Exiled
by CSENTIMENTAL VALYOU
Summary: Ten years after the Third Impact, Shinji and Asuka are on the frontlines fighting against a familiar foe. It's only a matter of time before the Veritas find them in their own backyard Please Read and Review!
1. Whatever became of Likely Lads

Authors Note: Wow, haven't been here in a while. Anywho, fellow Evangelion fans and other fan readers, I hope you enjoy this story. Just as a foot note, this is a re-do of my first story Soldaten, I' won;t be adding as many ACC as I did in soldaten the story lines are pretty close.Please Read and Review!

Disclaimer: I do not own "Neon Genesis Evangelion" or the studio that created it, GAINAX.

The world to Shinji seemed hazy, like something from out of a dream. He rubbed his eyes to only see the rotting corpse of lilum before him, and the smell of blood around him. He dug into his pocket to find the silver cross that Misato gave to him while she was dying. He felt Misato's crusted blood on it, as he cried as he lay remembering Misato. One of the only people in the world who gave a damn about him, she was like the sister he never had. And now he was all alone, like he was before. He held the cross close to his chest as he walked to water's edge. He knelt down and found a rusty, bent-in nail at the being smothered by the water's tide. Then when Shinji turned around, he saw her lying unconscious a few paces from where he was. He ignored her at first, looking towards a plank of wood that stuck out of the ground like a sore thumb. Lying next to it was a small stone, stained from the water's sickly yellow color. He picked up the stone, tossing it in the air a few times before it lay still in his palm. He drew the cross and nail from his pocket, raised the stone and pounded the nail into the plank. Misato's cross hung from there and it reminded him of all the times Misato had been there for him, but also her faults that he saw. It reminded him that she was only human and a dead one at that.

He turned his back on the plank and lay in the dirt where he woke up. He watched the night sky overhead. He couldn't tell whether it was night or day, because of the red-orange glow that tinted the land, however he could see the stars and the moon from where he was. He shifted around in the dirt thinking about to do next, so he did the only thing that came to mind: rest. However nightmares seemed to always plague his slumber.

As Shinji tossed and turned in the dirt, all he could remember was that fateful day: the day of the Third Impact. He could hear the cry of the people being burned to a crisp by the JSSDF's flamethrowers. He remembered the cracks and roars of the machine guns of the soldiers as they closed in on him. What could he do? 14 year old Shinji was weaponless, lost his will to fight or live, and contemplating his death under that stairwell. He found his solace in a dark corner until they, the soldiers, found him. He remembered feeling that warm barrel of the pistol being pressed to his head and being grateful. Death was like a mother that he never had opening her arms to Shinji, welcoming him into nothingness. Then, it happened. Shinji didn't feel the barrel of the gun, and all he heard was screaming and Misato's voice. Sure enough it was her, coming again to his rescue. But he didn't want to rescued, death was what he deserved. She brought as far as she could before she was hit by a soldier's bullet. She had wanted him to live, but he only cried after she shoved him into the elevator. His mind raced as he finally saw the face of Kaworu again, the face of Instrumentality, the face of man's demise or it's saving grace. The sickening of the pale, rotting corpse called humanity's saving grace stared at him with a twisted smile, knowing that Shinji would not be coming with it. And then he was gone, falling forever and never seeing the ground. And he woke up on the Earth, unscathed.

Shinji woke violently, shaking and dripping in cold sweat. He tried to take deep breaths, but it didn't help. Immediately he jerked his head and saw her still lying there, still unconscious. Shinji lost control of himself; all he could think about was

"_She was never there" _

"_I wouldn't be here if was her!"_

"_Why is she alive? After all she did to me!"_

"…_Why Asuka? ...why did you do it? … Why are you alive?"_

He clamped his hands around her neck, ready to snap her neck, ready to end her life right now, right here. All he could focus on was bitch's attitude toward him. When he finally was ready to end her pathetic life, she did something she would've never done before.

She raised her hand to caress Shinji's face and whispered…

"Shinji…"

He loosened his grip on her neck, enough that it seemed that his fingers were barely touching her neck. He slid of her body, now aware that she was barely alive. All of his rage subsided until it was a bitter memory. Shinji knelt beside her and cried. He never cried this much before; he never could find the tears for his emotions. This time he let it all out, turning Asuka's red plug suit shimmer dimly under the night sky. Shinji cried until his eyes ran dry, and lay by her side. Asuka's breathing grew louder and more stable, until she was finally awake. She got up and scanned the world as it lay. She then glanced over at Shinji who lay in the dirt, staring into the night sky. She moved closer to him and lay down next to him, clasping her arms around him. She whispered into Shinji's ear, very faintly.

"Don't too excited dork. It's cold out here."

Shinji finally felt the night's chill; his earlier sweat hadn't helped either. However it was warm next to Asuka's body. Shinji finally relaxed, and stayed there for the rest of the night. Asuka fell asleep next him, keeping close to him. Shinji however stayed awake, wondering why Asuka had just done what she had done. He hated himself for almost trying to kill her and here she was lying next to him, her arms clasped around him. Why had she done this? Why did she come back? Shinji only asked more questions, until his eyes flickered and watered, wanting sleep.


	2. Some other time

Author's Note: I actually worte this a while ago, but I just want to see how the first chapter went, I like how it's going so far, and I hope that you readers are pleased with the material. I am going to Anime Expo (leaving in afew hours actually) so I'll be a long way from a computer so an update my not come until friday or next week. Anywho Enjoy!

Disclaimer:I do not own "Neon Genesis Evangelion" or the studio that made it GAINAX

"Shinji, I have done my duty here. And you have yours…."

"No Kaworu! I won't, I can't do it!"

"You have no choice, Shinji. You must do it."

"Kaworu!"

Shinji jumped as his dream died out. He squinted as he saw the harsh glow of the sun came out from the horizon. The sky wasn't blue like it was before; instead it was a hazy orange color. He looked over to his side and saw Asuka sleeping right next to him. He sat up and wondered if there were anymore survivors after Third Impact, and if not, would that mean… Shinji flinched at the thought of it. Not only was Asuka extremely protective of herself, but she even wouldn't let Shinji touch her. Still he found some way to snicker a little at the idea. It was kind of funny thinking that if they were the only one's on earth, they'd have to do a lot of "doing it." But then he remembered what he did to Asuka. Would she even forgive him for what he did? But then again, why'd she…Asuka shifted around in her sleep almost sensing what Shinji was thinking. Asuka shifted around some more before getting up.

"…yawn …morning, Shinji."

"Good Morning Asuka."

"Have you seen anybody around here?"

"Uh…no. It's just been us." Asuka eyed him like she used to; when she thought he was up to something.

"You didn't do anything, last night did you."

"Nnno," Shinji stammered "I couldn't…er…wouldn't do anything to you."

"I can't really trust you, Shinji. How do I know you didn't get horny and attack me in the middle of the night?"

"Um…I didn't do anything after that…" Shinji stopped immediately. He knew what he did last night. Why did she need to remind him?

"It's alright, Shinji. I remember what you did, last night."

"Asuka…"

"Do you have anything to eat, Shinji?"

"No, I don't…wait, why aren't you worried about…" Asuka cut him before he could finish his thought.

"Well, I think we should look to see if any people survived, don't you think so, Shinji?" Shinji ignored her for a few seconds, and reminisced about what had led up to this moment. He couldn't shake the fact he killed countless people. No, he didn't kill them, his father did. Dad. Father, what have done? Is this what you wanted? Killing innocents for the sake having a purpose! What the hell were you thinking! He came to his senses when Asuka walked in front of him. She bent her head down to look at Shinji's face. Shinji, who had already pulled up his legs and held his knees, drew himself further into his own little world. Asuka leaned further towards him until Shinji could feel her breath on his face. Still, Shinji did not even acknowledge her. Then, she kissed him. A little brush of her lips onto his. Shinji looked up and saw Asuka smiling sweetly at him, with her arm outstretched.

"Come on dork," she said "let's go." It was weird to Shinji, because he never had seen Asuka in this light. Nor, did he even know that she even had a side like this. Usually when she said the word "dork" to him, it usually had some usual Asuka flavor to it, to a certain extent; it was Asuka's name for Shinji. He grabbed Asuka's hand and stood up and for the first time saw Asuka face to face like this with nothing to worry about, no Angels, no NERV, no school, no Kaji, no Hikari, no EVA, no Misato, no nothing. Shinji, felt naked in front of her, because he had no identity, nothing to latch onto. She was just staring at him, and he wondered what she saw.

"C'mon Shinji," she whined as shegrabbed his hand and dragged him away from the lake"we can't stay here forever." All Shinji could do was nod a "yes." She took him away from the lake, and he wondered what he would find in the world now. It was surely a different world then when he had left it, but what had replaced the things he lost?


	3. Different Names for the Same Place

**Author's Note:** Hello fanfic readers, here is the 3rd installment of Exiled, so please read and review

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or it's creator studio GAINAX

**ONE WEEK LATER**

Shinji and Asuka had trekked the barren wasteland after they left the lake. The World didn't seem any different from the scene at the lake. It was all very cold and barren; a few petrified trees that were once green dotted the land. They had been walking aimlessly for about a week now. Passing through what used to be Tokyo-3, they found food and water in the wreckage of stores and homes. Stomachs rumbling, they had to carefully ration their food, since fresh food was scarce. Shinji started to noticed that Asuka slowly went back to her old self as the days lumbered along. She now ordered him around while telling him that he was to slow. This came as a slight relief to Shinji, because he was more used to the bossy Asuka.

"Hey Dork!" Shinji cocked his head to see Asuka.

"Yeah what is it Asuka?"

"This suit's getting me way to hot, so I'm gonna change into some better clothes. Peep and you die!" Shinji shrugged his shoulders as he mumbled "Typical Asuka." He walked out into the Petrified Forest to avoid Asuka. He trampled over dead twigs and splashed in pools of water, as he made his way further into the forest. He felt comfortable here; he felt a strange feeling almost calling him to a rock overlooking Tokyo-3. As he sat he saw what remained of Tokyo-3. Ashes of fires, that were burning from fires left unattended by the JSSDF onslaught, but either than that, it was a ghost town. A ghost town with high rises and restaurants left untouched, save for the rubble half submerged in water. In the distance he could barely make out where Misato's apartment used to be. He wanted to look away from it. It was staring at a former friend who could see right through you like a blade. After what Misato had done for him, how could he return to the place, that she graciously offered him when he had nowhere to go? He tried to think of some other place he could run to with Asuka, but he couldn't think of one. He couldn't go to Rei's, for he was afraid of her, Lilum the "savior" of mankind. Nor could he even think about setting foot in Toji's house either, he killed him, rather his father killed Toji. He didn't know where Hikari or where Kensuke lived but it was pointless. The buildings wouldn't welcome him, they would only haunt him. He stared out at the slowing fading sun, as it turned from orange to a purple-red glow. It was beautiful as the light danced across the evening sky. Evening?

"Shit…" Shinji murmured. He needed to find shelter for Asuka and him. But he didn't want to go back to Tokyo-3. He would just want to stay where he was: on the outskirts.

He heard the crunch and crackle of twigs coming for him. He looked back and saw Asuka. Asuka stopped in her tracks; Shinji was smiling sweetly at her. He had a relaxed air around him, which was weird for him. Usually he was worried or too self-absorbed. But all he did was just smile slightly, with the orange purple glow of the sunset behind him. Asuka didn't know what to say. What could she? This man…boy tried to kill her, but there he was no hate, no rage, it was just a calm air. There was a long pause between the both of them. The minutes passed by like hours, as they both stared to each other eyes. None of them knew each other now.

"It's almost night." Shinji said. Asuka's was caught unprepared and stammered when she talked.

"Uh…yeah. I've…I've….got some…uh…blankets ready."

"Thanks Asuka." Asuka walked up behind him and sat next to Shinji. She looked out over the horizon at the sunset also.

"Shinji…do you….do you think that anyone else is alive?"

"I don't know."

"Yes or no, Shinji?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I'm not very good around people Asuka, you know that."

"So it might just be us?"

"I don't know?"

"Anta Baka….don't give me that crap Shinji! Why do you want us to be all alone! Is that what you want so you….you….can…" Shinji looked at her; he knew what she meant.

"I promise I won't kill you."

"_pfft_ Nice promise coming from you the guy who tried to strangle me." Asuka paused and looked down at her knees. She knew the consequences of what would happen if Shinji tried to…Asuka couldn't bear the thought. What if he tried to do it? Would I stop him?" Would he stop if I told him too? Asuka could only wonder and hope that it wouldn't come to that. "Shinji, would you…erm….uh….try to do me?"

"What brought that up?"

"You do have a lot of stuff in you that I still don't know about. Maybe I don't want to know. Because when I looked at you when I woke up, I saw the Shinji who I never wanted to see. Maybe I do push you around too much. I…do I…sniff….do I push you around too much?" Shinji stared at Asuka. He didn't know what to do with crying girls. Inside something told him to comfort her. He followed it.

Shinji hugged Asuka. It felt weird, as Asuka buried herself in his shirt. He was never hugged, he only saw people do it to other people. His father never hugged him, and he couldn't remember whether his mother hugged him or not. As Asuka's tears ran down his shirt, he wondered if this was right. If they were the last two people alive on earth, would she be his and how would he treat her. He did not want a repeat of what happened at the lake, so he all he did was put his arms lower than the neck, and wrapped them around her chest as he held her tight to his body.

Late evening came and soon the sky was pitch black with the stars glittering all over the sky. Shinji remembered only seeing this once before after defeating the 5th Angel with Rei. Asuka shifted around in her sleep next to him. Shinji then remembered that she hated the night. She loved the lights of cities and towns, but not the light that came from the stars or the moon. He only looked up through the dead trees at the stars. They never changed.

"Are we that insignificant that even the starts don't notice whether we live or die?" Shinji murmured. He stared at the constellations. Up in the night sky he saw Tarus and Orion, as well as Dorado. They never changed, even though an entire planet of billions of people was just wiped out, the stars keep on glowing. Shinji looked back at Asuka who was now sleeping peacefully in her blanket. Shinji was bored with the stars so he just gazed at Asuka. He didn't know why she asked him those questions at the rocks. However, his eyes started to water as he stole on last look at Asuka sleeping on the dead forest floor.


	4. Come as you are

Author's Note: Hi fanfic readers! Sorry if I kept any of you readers waiting, summer school was a real hassle. I had originally planned to have this chapter be longer, but I thought it would just ramble. But in my personal opinion, this isn't my favorite chapter. If you disagree or agree with me let me know, I accept all reviews, flames or not.

Disclaimer: I do not own "Neon Genesis Evangelion" or it's creation studio GAINAX. I'm just a teen who likes to write on his free time.

Dawn was peering over the top of the mountains, glowing with an orange radiance. Shinji shifted around in the dirt until the light crept upon him, as his eyes squinted to block out the sun. He reluctantly sat up, his eyes, now open, could see the whole forest where he and Asuka were sleeping during the night. Asuka! He immediately thought. Where's Asuka? She wasn't where she was sleeping the night before and only her body left grooves in the dirt where it once was. He turned around to find small footprints in the dirt, leading into the forest. Shinji got up and followed after Asuka's footprints.

As Shinji pushed away the brushes which blocked his path, he remembered last night. Nothing really went on between Asuka and him; it was just that she was muttering in her sleep. Shinji knew that she did talk in her sleep, since he had slept in the same room. He never understood why she did this. She was so closed that wouldn't know by talking to her, and Shinji didn't have the guts to talk to her about it. Shinji sighed; he never understood girls. Girls like Asuka and….Ayanami. Ayanami, Rei Ayanami, that name brought back memories, not necessarily pleasant ones. But he understood her, Shinji didn't even know why he did, but there was just something about her. Maybe it was that he always found himself going to her when he was troubled, or maybe it ran deeper than that. Maybe it had something do with Shinji's father, Gendo. He could vaguely make out her monotone voice and quiet demeanor that Shinji had become accustomed to. But wasn't she just a….puppet? Shinji remembered how Ritsuko had showed him the Rei's. Their smiling faces bouncing off the glass tubs of LCL, and with the press of a button, and they all disintegrated back into the yellow water, their laughing still echoing. Shinji winced a little at the memory. Rei was a friend to him, one the only he had. But she died as well as the rest of his friends, except Asuka. Asuka! Shinji completely forgot about following her tracks. He looked around trying to find her footprints in the dirt, but to no avail. Shinji knew he needed to go back and look for her tracks.

"Shinji! Baka! You up yet?" Leave it to Asuka to do that thought Shinji. He was pretty sure he heard her from the north-west, close to where they slept the night before. Shinji ran toward the camp. Shinji ran back toward the camp shouting Asuka! Asuka! I'm over here.

Asuka heard Shinji's voice echoing through the forest. She bent down to pick up supplies that she found littered around the forest. She raided some JSSDF APC's that were left unattended and home to birds now. She found rations, enough to last a few days if not a week. Dehydrated fruit, dried meat, candy, powdered Gatorade, and some rice cakes. She placed it in two backpacks, one for her and Shinji. She reached deeper into her backpack, and felt a cold, heavy object. Asuka then pulled out a Desert Eagle, a handgun that could pack enough power to stop a man in one shot. Literally, a hand cannon. She chose the pistol because it was smaller than a rifle, therefore easier to handle and hide. The only problem with it though was the blowback. She remembered Newton's laws from school: A reaction must be met with an equal and opposite reaction. She knew the force that went into killing an enemy that would come back to her. She reached into her backpack even further and checked the two clips of ammunition she found in the APC. She also found a knife, which she placed in Shinji's backpack. She didn't trust him with it though. If Shinji came at her with the knife she would be ready with bullets. She double checked the contents and closed up the backpacks.

"Shinji," Asuka yelled "over here!"

"Oh there you are." Shinji said as he came out of the bushes. "Where were you this morning?"

"Looking for supplies," She said bluntly "I can't leave that job to an idiot like you. You'd probably fall off a cliff or something." Shinji rolled his eyes. Same old Asuka, he thought. "Here Shinji," Asuka tossed him his pack "It's your backpack, don't lose it. It's got our food." Shinji threw it on his back, not surprised. Leave it to Asuka to give me the heaviest load, he muttered. He adjusted the straps to his liking.

"Asuka, why don't we go back into the city today? We both need better clothing, my uniform doesn't keep me warm, and you're still using the slippers from your plug suit for shoes." Asuka gave him the look that Shinji knew immediately. It was the "I don't think so Shinji; because it's your idea it's terrible" look she always gave him. Shinji felt a little squeamish when she looked at him like that. It 90 percent of the time ended in "That's stupid Shinji, like you!" and the rare 10 percent "That might work." She finally looked away from him and said "That might work Shinji, even thought it's coming from you." Shinji breathed a sigh of relief.

As the two made their way down the mountain side, Asuka started to worry. Not about Shinji, but about Tokyo-3. It almost seemed too good to be true that only Shinji and she were the last humans on the earth. That couldn't be true, could it? It certainly wasn't like _I am Legend_ or "28 Days Later" thank goodness, but no humans? She didn't want zombies, vampires, or anything else running around that wasn't human. But she wanted other people around. Just being alone with Shinji was weird. And why them? What did they do to survive Third Impact? Could have to do with them being EVA pilots? Besides that they really didn't do anything special. It had to do with them being EVA pilots, couldn't be anything else. That was the only possible way. Then why did she fell as if though something was waiting for them down in the valley?

Shinji and Asuka walked around the deserted streets of Tokyo-3. The only sound was the whistling of the wind through the concrete and glass. Asuka remembered where all the stores were since she went shopping the most of the time. Papers were strewn all over and mixed with warnings of bombings by the JSSDF or Angel Attacks and other miscellaneous things. An occasional toy left over from some toddler and cars neatly parked on the sides of the road. The deeper the two went into the city; Asuka felt that there had to be people, here somewhere. It can't just be a ghost town now can it?

"Hey Shinji, there's a store over there. Let's go check it out; I used to go over here all the time with Kaji." Shinji nodded as the both walked into the store. Glass and clothing were littered all over the store floor. Asuka raced over to the women's section three stories up, leaving Shinji on the first floor. He scanned the first floor, which had nothing useful to him, since it was mostly children's clothing. He saw that the men's section was only a story up. He could use a sweater and better pants, and maybe boots. His school uniform was weak and tore often up in the mountains, and his shoe's soles had no grip or protection left, leaving only a few millimeters of space before his socks. He soon heard Asuka humming on the next floor. At least he wouldn't have to deal with her for a while.

Shinji dropped his pack and ran his hand through the clothing. He soon found what he was looking for: A Gore-Tex jacket along with a pair of jeans. He stripped off his old clothes and put on the jacket and jeans. He found a pair of boots that fit him, and strapped them on. Shinji shifted around in his new clothes uncomfortably. He didn't like the fact that he didn't pay for the clothes. It just felt wrong to be ripping off the tags and the hangers from something he didn't pay for. It was stealing! Just the thought was…

"Shinji!" Asuka yelled, "Go be the lookout!"

"Wha…What? Asuka….why can't you be the lookout?" Shinji whined.

"Oh stop, your bitching and go!" Muttering, Shinji reluctantly dragged himself to a lookout point. The store was built that the second floor overlooked the first, and the third overlooked the second. As Shinji leaned over the railing, his stomach uttered a low grumble. Shinji was reminded that he only ate a light breakfast and had walked 10 miles. He reached into the backpack that Asuka gave him. He sorted through the rations to find a full canteen filled with water, dried seaweed, as well as some dried meat. Shinji tore upon the seaweed greedily, and finished it in seconds. Even the bitter taste of seaweed was heaven on his tongue. He then opened the canteen and tore open a powdered Gatorade packet. Shinji closed and shook it with his hands. As he was shaking the canteen, Shinji again peered over the railing to the lobby. Suddenly, he stopped shaking the canteen and screwed the cap back on in a hurry. He left his pack and ran to the third floor. As he ran up the stairs, he made sure he wasn't seeing things. He was sure he saw people, actual human beings, maybe he was dreaming, a way to fool himself, yes that was it. But he saw the figure again, a tall shadow with something sticking out from its side. Shinji soon arrived on the third floor, looking for Asuka, and soon he found her lone figure standing out from the clothing racks.

"Asuka! Asuka!" Shinji yelled to the girl, "There are people out there! People!" Asuka looked away at first not believing, going back to looking for a shirt. Shinji ran towards her still yelling "You gotta believe me Asuka! People are out there!" Asuka, now annoyed looked over at him.

"Okay, so what if you did see somebody there? Why didn't you say something to them?"

"Um…I didn't want to because I needed to make sure I wasn't dreaming."

"God, I can always count on you Shinji to be a brainless idiot who doesn't have any balls."

"But I swear I saw them." Shinji said looking back at the lobby. Just then, they came in one by one. Six men clutching their rifles close to their bodies walked in, trampling the clothing and debris. Up on the third floor, Asuka immediately sprang up from the balcony.

"Hey! We're up here! Hello!" she yelled. Shinji immediately grabbed her and pulled her back down.

"Can you stop that Asuka? We don't even know who these people are, and you're already letting them know where we are?" Asuka brushed off Shinji's grasp and reached into her pack.

"What are you…?" Before Shinji could finish Asuka hushed him up with a quick "Shh!" Shinji looked over the railing again, and saw that the soldiers were know on the second floor. As he looked back Asuka had pulled out a long, black handgun with two clips of ammunition. She had just finished loading the gun, when the men started yelling downstairs.

"We know you're up on the third floor so come down already!" Shinji was worried, but Asuka just coolly tucked the handgun into the back of her pants. She looked over the railing and yelled back

"We'll be down soon! Just give us a minute!" She reached into Shinji's pack and her hand reached for the knife she had earlier packed away in there.

"What are you doing Asuka?" Asuka, then pulled out the knife she had hidden away in there, and pushed the blade into Shinji's pocket. Asuka gave him a wink, and started to walk downstairs.


	5. Sleep now in the Fire

Author's Note: This one took longer than I wanted it too. The reason: the begining. I was first working with a nightmare that Asuka was having, I scrapped that and tried to do a Toji and Shinji conversation, I had enough of Shinji and I really wanted to delvelop Asuka as the co-main character. So I went to an Asuka and surrogate mother talk (you'll find who it is). Finally I liked it, and I worked about a day on the final copy. It's betaed and ready to go

Diclaimer: I do not own GAINAX the creator of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" nor do I claim to be Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. I am just a teenager who like to write and doesn't get paid for it.

"_Asuka…Asuka…Asuka"_

"Hm….not now."

"_Asuka…Asuka…Asuka…"_

" yawn …What is it?"

"_Good morning Asuka, how are you feeling ?"_

"Do I have to ask?"

"_I'm only asking, Asuka."_

"Who are you anyways?"

"_Who do I sound like? I'm Misato, your surrogate mother."_

"I already have a step mom."

"_And you have a real mother Asuka. The reason I'm here is so we can talk, as women."_

"As women…_pfft_… what do you know being a woman? All you did was run off with your old boyfriend, Kaji."

"_And what do you know about it Asuka? You're still young…too young to understand."_

"It's about Shinji, isn't it?"

"_Yes, it is about Shinji."_

"What do I need to know about him! I can't respect him, let alone trust him. You saw what he did to me, didn't you?"

"_Yes, I did."_

"Then why should trust the idiot!"

"_You both need each other now. That doesn't mean love or any other attachment. Things are coming that you both can't face alone."_

"What things?"

"_You'll see, sooner than later."_

"Wait, Misato!

Asuka's eyes fluttered to make out the world in the hazy morning light. She massaged her face trying to remember what happened yesterday. She flopped down on the cot and threw her arm over the side. Her hand wandered aimlessly on the dirt floor until it found a pair of boots and to the left were her clothes that she had borrowed from the mall. That's right she groaned the mall. She preferred to not to think about it, instead focusing her attention on the clothes her hand had just found. Her sweatshirt was still there as well as her cargos, but her shoes were replaced with boots. She got up off the bed and began to undress. Normally, she would've covered Shinji's sleeping head with a blanket, so she'd know when he got up. As she pulled up her cargos she remembered on of the worst mistakes she'd made.

**THE DAY BEFOE**

She'd pulled the gun from her pack, and stuck of her belt. As she walked closer she saw that these men were armed to the teeth, obviously not here to rescue anyone. She saw the greedy eyes and their blood-stained vests, wanting what any survivor had valuables they had and killing anyone who didn't agree. She started to regret leaving Shinji the knife, and wished she had gotten him a gun too.

"Hey Girlie!" yelled a short, stocky mercenary "Whatcha doin' here?"  
"Scavenging"

"Why don't you share with us?" said a tall, brown haired man, who started approaching Asuka with his finger on the trigger.

Shinji saw what was going on from his hideout on the second floor. He started shivering and worrying about Asuka. Not this again, he muttered, not this. It felt like only yesterday that Asuka had fought, while he was crying in the corner. He regretted that dearly, after seeing the EVA that housed Asuka mutilated to the point where it was barely recognizable. Shinji clutched the blade in his hands, the warm blood dripping down his wrist as it cut deeper into his palm. He never wanted to fight again.

Meanwhile Asuka was being backed into the stairs, by the men. Her hand reached the handgun, her sweaty palm slipping at the pistol grip, as her hands fumbled with the safety trigger. She tried to keep a poker face, not giving into fear, but the soldiers had already won.

"C'mon lass," whispered the brown-haired soldier "where ya keeping yur loot, eh?" He placed his left hand on the railing, but still had his right hand on the trigger on the rifle. His eyes squinted as he yelled "Speak up damn bitch!" Asuka, still fumbling with the handgun, started to a feel her heart racing as she could feel the soldier's rancid breath on her. The soldier, now beyond irritated, threw his rifle at Asuka's face and screamed "TELL ME WHERE FUCKING LOOT IS OR I'LL FUCKING BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!" Shinji couldn't do anything more than watch as Asuka was being backed into a corner. Retreating under the cover of the guard rail, he threw down the knife in disgust. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Why couldn't he defend Asuka? Nothing held him back this time except for himself. There was no Father, no NERV, and no stand-by status, just him. Than he heard two things: a gunshot and Asuka screaming out his name.

He was back in the EVA again. This was a dream right? Shinji's plug suit fit like a glove, with its white and blue design glistening in the LCL. Everything was at his fingertips the controls with their triggers and buttons sat at his fingertips. Shinji looked at the screen first blank, then shimmered with rainbow hue as it adjusted to the outside world. Next thing he saw was the one thing he could've done right. Asuka's Evangelion was skewered by the Lances of Longinus. He saw the eight cream colored Evangelions with their vulture wings spread, ready to descend on Asuka's Evangelion Unit 2's carrion flesh.

Shinji looked on, as he worked up his courage. The question lingered in his head: Should I stay or should I go? His head urged him to go on, but his hands would not move. The message was clear now: You mustn't run away, never again. It pulsed in his head, its echoes becoming stronger as the beasts raised their wing and took flight. Then Shinji was no longer the little boy forced to pilot EVA, but Shinji Ikari, the man who needed to pilot. His hands pushed the controls towards Asuka, his eyes intent on his goal. He was determined to never lose Asuka again, not now. Never again.

"NEVER AGAIN!"

Shinji jumped over the guard rail, knife in hand, landed on the first floor. There was only one goal now: KILL. He sprinted towards the nearest soldier, putting knife out until it connected with the soldier's throat, spraying crimson red all over his face. The soldiers were taken aback at first, but then opened fire. Shinji dodged them by sprinting over behind some tables and waited for them to reload. One of the soldiers heard the sound of his rifles _chlik, chlik, chlik._ Shinji jumped out from his bullet ridden hideout and dashed towards the man whilst he was reloading. The solider panicked; fumbling for his handgun, but Shinji was faster. His hand reached out for the man's Glock 29, as his other hand slashed the soldiers hand off his wrist. The soldier screaming was soon silenced by Shinji's knife, turning his screams into intelligible gurgling. Shinji jumped for the gun and fired it several times until he emptied the magazine. Two of his bullets connected with the brown-haired soldier that was harassing Asuka, forcing the soldier to drop his rifle and find cover. Three other bullets caught the short soldier in the leg, leaving him on the ground armed with his pistol. Shinji's Glock spat out 5 other bullets that hit the other remaining soldier, spraying chucks of blood, muscle, and brains. Shinji threw down the pistol and charged the wounded short soldier. The short man weeping for his life, by the time Shinji had reached him. Shinji, not listening to the man, stabbed him in the chest, shoulder, and finally head. He drew the combat knife from his fallen foe, and turned his attention to where the final soldier was hiding. Shinji sauntered over, playing with the knife's blade, as he bounced across his fingers like a pen. He chuckled a little, revealing a side that Asuka did not want to see: that face he made when he nearly killed her. The black eyes, never blinking, were pits of darkness that knew no ends. His body sweat, but never flinching, intent on fulfilling its master's dark desires with its every step. Shinji was no more than a pawn to himself, a master and a slave in one human being. It was the face of death.

The soldier appeared from above his cover, holding a .357 magnum revolver, pointed it directly at Shinji's head. "Now you jess back away there." Shinji kept on walking forward as the man stumbled back. "What the fuck d'ya want! Ya crazy bastard I've got six shots in this revolver, and I don't intend to load them on you!" Shinji looked at him with a blank stare, unaware that he even existed. To Shinji, this man was insignificant, and must be crushed, nothing else. The soldier soon turned back on his words, when Shinji was within a yard, firing two shots in his body. Shinji stumbled around from the shots taking them in both shoulders, until he fell onto his back with a thud. "Not so tough, now are we?" joked the soldier "Ya one tough little bastard though." The soldier walked over to Shinji's body, while placing the hammer back. Then, Asuka suddenly grabbed her pistol next to her and opened fire. She was thrown back before she could see if she got him or not. She pushed herself of the stairs, and saw what she had done. The soldier hobbled over on one leg, his other blown off by Asuka's bullet. He was a screaming rage mix of agony and revenge, with his pistol pointed directly at her. He hobbled over using the debris as a way to prop himself up, but kept the gun level with Asuka's head. She raised her gun back at him, keeping it steady with both her hands. She expected the worse, until…SHHNNK! The soldier looked down at his chest, which now had a knife sticking out of it! His last breath was barely a whisper as slumped onto the ground. And Shinji stood there staring back at Asuka, but it was the old Shinji staring at her.

He fell to his knees, the hilt still grasped into his hands, as he broke out into tears. Realizing the blood, which had been shed because of him….it was too much for him to bear. Seeing the decapitated and bloodied bodies lying around him, he could help but throw away the knife into one of the aisles. Asuka seeing what was happening ran to the sobbing Shinji. She knelt beside him and held him close so that his tears would wipe off

on her sweatshirt. "There all dead…sniff…aren't they Asuka? All…be…be…sniff cause of me?" Asuka couldn't talk; because all she could remember was the madness that Shinji was a few minutes ago. She felt like she was giving him the message that it was okay for him to have choked her to the point of almost dying. She jus just squeezed him harder until his sobbing stopped and Asuka felt something warm on her sweatshirt. Blood, Shinji's blood, was leaking out of him too fast. Asuka remembered that there was an artery where he was hit. Assuming the worst, she ripped a nearby shirt to form a crude bandage to stop the bleeding. She flung off his shirt and worked to stop the bleeding until she did all she could. She had no way to stop infections or anyway to take out the bullet.

Staying at the mall wasn't an option for her; Asuka needed to find someway to clean up the wound. Carefully slinging her back on her shoulder, she then hoisted Shinji onto her back. She found him lighter than she thought for a guy, as she walked outside the mall. The sky was turning a navy blue, as evening crept upon the sky. Losing light wasn't good for her because of Shinji's conditions. She needed light to find a flashlight, anti-biotic soap, or tweezers to fix Shinji. As she wandered down the roads of Tokyo-3, she looked for any convience store to see if they had anything on their shelves. Hours passed by and the light faded as Shinji's weight felt heavier on Asuka. She hadn't had any food or water since morning, so her body was already tired as it was. She started to breathe heavier as the night wore on. She sweat so much that it soaked her sweatshirt after the third hour of wandering. She only strayed a couple blocks, until she collapsed from fatigue. Asuka eyes strained to stay open, but couldn't she had to rest, but Shinji was dying or….Asuka preferred not to think of the worst possibility. But she had already strained her body enough, and could not go on with Shinji. She propped his body against a building, and collapsed next to him. She was so tired she didn't notice that her head was on his shoulder. Or maybe she did but she didn't care. Asuka knew that if Shinji was going to die, she might as well make his last few hours comfortable. She cuddled against him for warmth, and fell asleep immediately. Under the stars that were coming her way.


	6. Smile like you mean it

Author's Note: A big thanks to all you people out there who are keeping up with the story. And sorry if this was long overdue, I was waiting for the new demo of Warhammer 40k: Dark Crusade to come out on Anywho, Keep on reading and reviewing.

Disclaimer: I do not own "Neon Genesis Evangelion" or it's production studio GAINAX. If by chance Hidieki Anno-san or Yoshiyuki Sadamoto-san shows up and wants me to take the story off, I will do it

Asuka, now fully dressed in her old clothes, slumped down on her cot. She squirmed trying to get comfortable. Asuka cursed silently, because she couldn't get to sleep even though she knew that she was used to this already, she did sleep on rocks and bark from trees after all. She was still tired even after sleeping in, but she couldn't relax. Every time she closed her eyes, her thoughts returned her to the mall. It wasn't Shinji that made her uneasy, but the fact that the few people that survived had tried to kill both herself and Shinji. And Shinji? What to do with him? He wasn't all she thought now. He was a different person before Third Impact a very submissive and secretive person but he could be kind when he wanted to be. And what was he now?

Asuka looked over to the cot next to her. Shinji wasn't there! Asuka could've sworn she saw him there while she was getting dressed. She tore off the sheets off the cot but nobody was there, again.

"DAMN IT SHINJI! YOU GODDAMN BAKA!"

Outside the tent two guys and one woman heard the scream, but went back to their game of blackjack. The dealer blew up at his hair making it flip and said in a scratchy voice "Damn that chick's got some issues."

"You would know," said the woman with an Australian accent "after you PMS'd after that last game."

"Ya bleach-brained bitch! Take that back!"

"Forget it asshole! You couldn't win a fight with me if you tried."

The second man got and left before he got in the fight, but before he left, he stole the betted money. He picked up his F88 Austeyr from its resting place in the dirt, and trudged to the Medical tent where the scream cam from.

Meanwhile, Asuka, was still furious. She tore apart the other cots that were inside the tent leaving only the tattered remains of what were once sheets. The man strode in the tent, was completely taken by surprise. He wished his squad hadn't picked up the girl and her boyfriend. He placed down his rifle, took a deep breath, and put on his best smile.

"Ano…Konichiwa…um….miss?" The man said with a huge grin on his face. Asuka looked at him and scowled, she immediately turned away.

"I speak English, okay." Asuka said with clenched teeth.

"Whew, that's a relief. I hate talking in Japanese; it sounds all Yoda-ish to me."

"What do you want?" Asuka said with her back still turned to him.

"Well, I just thought, by the looks of things here, you missed your boyfriend? Am I right?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Well by the looks of things last night, you two looked so cute all cuddled up like that. Ah, if only myspace was still around, I'dve snapped a picture and sent it to all my pals…." Asuka lit up immediately and turned around quickly.

"You rescued us last night? Why didn't you say sooner?"

"Yes, my squad and I, but you were so busy throwing a fit, I couldn't throw it in." Asuka rolled her eyes, immediately she thought he was an asshole. "But c'mon, I can take you to him. He's in our ICU unit here or something like ICU unit, we don't have some necessary units for it to be a fully working ICU. Unless you want to stay here, I would, it looks just like my room when I was your age." Asuka hesitated a bit with her answer, because she didn't even know who this man was.

"Oh by the way, I'm Vincent Elric, Vince for short, pleasure to meet you miss." Asuka looked up at him immediately, how could this man know what she was thinking?

"Sorry if I freaked you out there, miss." Vince said putting his hand behind his head, laughing, and "My mother said that I came from a long line of psychics. I can tell what most people are thinking by just looking at them." Asuka raised an eyebrow; definitely this guy was really weird.

"My name is Asuka, Asuka Langley Soryu."

"Nice to meet cha' Miss Soryu, you want to see your boyfriend now?"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

On the walk to the ICU, Asuka was glad to have another person to talk to. Talking with Shinji all the time was boring, and lost interest over time. Vince on the other hand, wasn't as quiet as Shinji, so he talked whenever Asuka had something to say.

"So who did all of you people survive?" asked Asuka

"Ah, it's a long story. Where to begin? Okay do you know anything about the Evangelion's or the Angel's?"

"Yes, you did find me in Tokyo-3 after all." Asuka didn't want to let slip that Shinji and her were both Evangelion pilots.

"Well, then ya must know about the NERV center in Tokyo-3. Ya know that NERV is stationed in a Geo-Front, right?" Asuka nodded "Well the UN about a few years began a project that consisted mostly of building Geo-Fronts all around the world that would hold the NERV centers, but they also began unofficial projects, like the building of Geo-Fronts in major populated cities around the world, New York, Moscow, London, and Rio de Janeiro to name a few. This was in case of a Third Impact, so people would have a place to run too in case of an emergency on par with a Third Impact."

"And which one are you from?"

"We're all Aussies, miss. Born and raised in the Land down under!"

"Then why didn't China or Korea come instead of you guys? They have lots of major populated cities, so why couldn't one of them come?"

"China's having a bit of a coup d'etat. What happened was the Triads saw a chance to control the government, while in the crisis. The Triads offered money and rifles to anyone to participate in their coup. So China's military is in a bind, and can't come to China's rescue. And Korea as well as covering China's ass for the search of rescue of China's formerly designated regions of rescue, is also in a bind, because of a small rebellion consisting of mostly communists from the former regime of North Korea. I call it small because the communists are low on ammunition, food, as well as other supplies. Really it's a war of harsh language. So that leaves it up to us Aussies for the pacific Islander region as well as Japan."

"Well happened to the rest of the NERV's?"

"Eh…how should I say this? Have you ever heard of the Templars?"

"Yeah, I studied them in college."

"Oh, fancy that! You even went to college! You don't look a day over 13, miss."

"I'm 14."

"Oh wow, well getting back to what I saying. I'm pretty sure you know how the Templars were dealt with after they grew to powerful, right?"

"Yeah, they were captured simultaneously on Friday the 13th on orders that were only opened on that day. That's why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky nowadays."

"Well, something like was carried out on the day of Third Impact. GSG 9, SAS, JSSDF, SEAL's, and every other special forces unit who had an operational NERV in their country carried out an operation to eliminate NERV personnel and documents pertaining to the Evangelions, Adam, and all other technology they had developed."

"Wait, how do you know about the Evangelions? I thought they were top-secret."

"Miss, my superiors briefed us on everything NERV had on stand-by, and that was some pretty great technology, twas a shame that it went to waste."

"You didn't destroy any NERV centers?"

"Now why would I do such a thing? First off I don't like killing people who aren't shooting back at me. Second, there is no NERV center in Australia, but the higher-up wanted to brief us so we had a logical explanation for this…mess. Oh look there's the ICU, I'll show you were your boyfriend is."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

Vince lifted the canvas flap that was supposed to be a door, and Asuka ran underneath his arm toward Shinji. Shinji was laying on a cot, motionless, with new bandages on his bullet wounds, IV tubes in his arm, and an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. Asuka ran towards his bedside, and immediately knelt before his side. Vincent put his hand and Asuka's shoulder and said to her "He'll be okay. We operated on him last night, took out the bullets, and sewed up the wounds. He just needs a few days bed rest, and he'll be fine."

Asuka fell silent for a few minutes looking at Shinji. Once her eyes grew misty she whispered "Can you leave us alone, Vince, please." Vince took his hand off her and responded with a nod. As he walked out of the ICU, Vince wondered how old he was when he felt about that about a certain girl.

"Yeah, I was 14 wasn't I? Same as that girl." He laughed a little remembering those post 3rd Impact days. He remembered the flooding and his family running from their little house in Sydney, fleeing to the inland grasslands and deserts that weren't flooded. The crowded refugee camps, no room to yourself, with guards with fully-loaded rifles guarding supplies. In that hell he met her. Vince chuckled at his own reverie; it was silly but teenage love was simply the best.

Asuka froze inside the tent. She was alone with Shinji, but she wasn't really in this situation. In fact she missed Shinji's meager attempts at a conversation now; without him it was hard for her to start acting like herself. If he was awake right now, she knew she would've smiled and kicked the living shit out of him. She couldn't do that. She couldn't bring herself to be herself. He did save her at the mall, saved her because of her stupidity. Inside she wondered if acting anymore was really worth it? Acting like she was in charge, after all it almost got her killed. On more than one occasion, it was Shinji who'd saved her. And every time he did, he didn't say anything about it. It was herself, Asuka Langley Soryu, who couldn't let go of it. Always putting on a mask. Hiding. Taking it off. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. All her life was like a skipping CD, relishing on past accomplishments, trying to make her self feel better when really she was worse off. All could she do was tear off the mask and let the real Asuka out.

Behind the dam that was Asuka Langley Soryu that everybody saw, the real Asuka was let out. On Shinji's bedside, she wept. Tossing her former self aside, she let out her feelings for him without words. "Shinji, come back! Why won't you…sniff just come back!" Asuka looked again at him as her tears plopped down on Shinji's face. It was blank, breathing, but blank. No emotion. No response. "Shinji Ikari! Answer me dammit! Why hyuk won't you sniff answer me! Don't forget about me!" Shinji's eyes remained closed as he slept, but he felt the drop of the tears on him. Asuka's tears made there way from his eyes down toward his mouth. The salty taste of the tears awoke his mouth and he then, slowly, opened his eyes.

. "Morning," Shinji said groggily "Asuka…that….you?" Asuka face lit up with excitement with Shinji's first words that day. "Are…you…crying Asuka?" He lifted up his hand to her cheek to try to wipe away to the tears, and Asuka held it to her cheek with both her hands.

"Yes, Shinji, I'm crying… sniff for you."

She leaned over his bed, and gave Shinji her first kiss. Shinji never felt so happy before, even though he was weak he found the strength to kiss back. She closed her eyes and held hands with Shinji, squeezing them with all her might. Shinji only lay there; kissing her was all he knew right now. They shared the same compassion for each other as they lay there as two star crossed lovers, both giving into in each other feelings for one another.

_And they kissed as though nothing could fall ; as the guns shot above their heads_


	7. Paralyzed

Author's Note: A big thanks to all who have reviewed this story. With your help I might actually get this story finshed. I've got school, and AP classes along with Honors so I will update from on a weekly basis but they're might be 2 weeks or more in waiting. I sincerly hope not, and I know you guys don't want that. On a different note, The technology specs for "Exiled" are a la "Ghost Recon:Advanced Warfighter" I know that's going agianst Eva tradition, but I'd like to bring into the 21st centrury tech. And I don't know what the JSSDF use as rifles, so I assumed M4-A1, because they are supplied by American industries. But it's only a guess.

"CRACK!"

"BOOM!"

"DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!"

"FFFFT! FFFFFT! FFFFFT"

"CHUGA! CHUGA! CHUGA!"

Gunshots ripped through the once peaceful forest; the shots tearing through the tents and supplies of the Australian relief center. The soldiers leapt up from their games of cards and reading and grabbed their F88 Austery's. Soldiers yelled as they dashed for cover, while others writhed in agony from gunshot wounds. Vincent Elric ducked behind medical supplies as he opened fire. He could barely make out the figures from the muzzle flashes coming from the forest. He opened up a burst, which caught a figure right in the chest. It didn't go down. He fired again. It still didn't go down. On the other side of him, his squad-mates kept on yelling about "These motherfuckers aren't going fucking down!" Vincent emptied out a clip on the figure he was shooting at. It stumbled a little, but still got up and kept on firing.

"Get the fuckin' M-203's!" Vincent screamed to his squad-mates on the other side of the path. The youngest member of the squad, Kent Radcliffe, lifted his grenade launcher, and with a pop, let the grenade fly. It hit the figure in head before it exploded; it didn't get up. Vince then looked over to the medical tent, where he dropped off the new girl, Asuka. It was dangerously close to the firefight.

"Oi! Radcliffe, cover my ass! I need to get the ICU tent!"

"Yeah, sure. I'll give these bloody wankers hell!" Radcliffe reloaded his M-203 and popped the grenade into another figure, hitting it in the chest and sending into a nearby tree. Vince rushed over to cover closer to ICU tent where he blind-fired bursts of bullets until his clip ran out. He threw in another one, and ran into the ICU tent.

Asuka was still kissing Shinji when she heard the shots. She wanted to pull away from his lips, but she didn't want to freak Shinji out. As it was, Shinji could barely hear let alone talk. She softly let go of him, and lay him down back in his bed, pulling the sheets up to his neck. Then cracks burst out from the forest, as bullets ripped through the ICU tent, catching Asuka off guard. She immediately fell to the ground, and checked herself to see if she wasn't hurt. Miraculously, she had survived unscathed. She reached up to touch Shinji to see if he was hurt. He was still breathing and he seemed like he wasn't hit. Slowly she got up, and pulled off the covers.

"What's….wrong Asuka?"

"I'm getting you out of here. Hold still, this might hurt a little." She wrapped her arms around his neck and legs and tried to baby carry Shinji outside. Shinji moaned in pain, and patches of new blood started to form on the white bandages. Asuka gasped, and frantically sit him back down on the cot. She frantically tried to look for a way to carry him out. Suddenly, she had an idea. She tore off the sheets from another bed and wrapped them around the head of Shinji bed. She carefully took out legs from underneath the cot, and started to drag him towards the doors. As Asuka pulled Shinji towards the door, she started to sweat bullets, because she didn't know when the next barrage was going to be. This time she probably wouldn't be as lucky like the first time. She pulled Shinji's body harder towards the door, trying to get out quicker. Finally she reached the door, and looked around to see if the coast was clear. Nobody was firing, good she thought. Asuka turned around a second to pull Shinji out of the ICU tent. Then it happened.

"AAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!"

Asuka shrieked like a banshee, as she let her fist fly instantaneously. It connected harshly with Vincent's face.

"You've got a quite a fist there, miss." Vince laughed, as he nursed his cheek. "I think you've got a job as a boxer back home."

"Vincent!" Asuka said with a mix of relief and hate "Don't sneak up on me like that! I could've thought you were a pervert."

"Asuka, you're a decade too young for my taste. Anyways get inside; they might start their volleys again." Vincent shouldered his rifle, as he walked in with Asuka. Vince surveyed the bullet-ridden canvas, and gave a quizzical look to Asuka. "How the 'ell did you survive that volley?" Asuka shrugged; she didn't even know herself. Vincent turned to Shinji who was still lying in his unmovable state. "Oi Asuka! Can you lift Shinji up?"

"Not really; I don't want his wounds to open again." Vincent kneeled down in front of Asuka, and looked back at her.

"Can you lift him up enough to get him on my back?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Do it!" Asuka at first taken aback by Vincent's demeanor, but went to Shinji and lifted him up. Shinji winced as his wounds reopened again.

"He's bleeding! I can't put him on your back!"

"Goddamn it, miss." Vince sighed "If you don't put him on me, you and your boyfriend are going to dead! He's in a critical state, yes, and yes, he shouldn't be moved. However both of will be dead if you don't get him on me."

"Then we'll die!" Asuka yelled in his face. Vincent, after wiping the spit off of his face looked glaringly at Asuka. He took out his holstered pistol and pointed at her. Asuka looked straight into the barrel of the gun, trying not to show any fear. Really though, she wanted to cry.

"Look here, Asuka! I risked my bloody neck getting here, and now I have to put up with your shit. I saw some of my mates' dead, 'kay! Whoever the hell is attacking us; they won't just shoot you and your boyfriend. You can probably guess what might happen if they don't shoot. And I can guarantee you, yelling 'pervert' won't help! So get your fucking act in gear and put him on me now!" Asuka immediately went down to pick up Shinji, as Vincent re-holstered his pistol. He kneeled down, as Asuka placed Shinji's limp body onto Vincent's shoulders. "Asuka, pick up those sheets and wrap them around Shinji and I. I can't hold him and shoot at the same time." Asuka obeyed, picking up the strewn sheets and wrapping them around Vincent's torso and Shinji's back. As Asuka worked, Vincent sighed and apologized. "I'm really sorry about that whole ordeal. I just don't how to put it otherwise. I hate scolding."

Asuka didn't look up at Vincent but responded "It was necessary, wasn't it? I mean I can be…"

"Ah shut up Asuka. It wasn't necessary from me. Just please, listen to me from now on." He shuffled around inside his vest, pulled out a Walther P99, and gave it to Asuka. "Here, this is my back-up gun, my little P99. It's not too powerful, so don't worry about blowback, but I'm sure you know who to fire it. Right?" Asuka nodded. "Okay, when you need to fire just release the safety here, and slap a fresh clip in to it. Don't worry about pulling the barrel back, the P99 doesn't need that." Asuka fit her fingers into the gun, tightly wrapping her fingers around the grip. "Alright, ya ready Asuka? You have to bring up the rear and watch for anybody firing at us." As Asuka nodded her reply, Vincent took out his F88. "Let's go."

Vincent took a peek outside the tent first, with Asuka trailing behind shortly afterwards. Vincent bolted to the nearest cover. When it he thought it was safe, he waved for Asuka to come to him. "Scared, yet?"

Asuka whispered "Yeah."

"Just wait things are going to get real bad here." Vincent peered over the top of the boxes which they were using as cover. He could barely make out the dark figures moving around in the forest. They had their rifles raised, but awkwardly. Their hands seemed too big and bulky to be handling the M4-A1 rifles they carried. Vincent quietly shuffled around in the dirt. "Okay Asuka, I need to run to those crates over there." Asuka readied her handgun as Vincent readied his rifle. "On my mark…Okay, go!" Asuka pushed off the ground, sprinting towards some crates. As Asuka ran, Vincent peered over the crates, rifle in hand. The figures hadn't noticed Asuka running. Good, he thought. Vincent remembered that the only thing that could destroy these things was an explosive or (he assumed) a lot of lead. Vincent gave one last peek, and then darted across to where Asuka was.

One of the figures patrolling the forest saw Vincent running across the path. It lifted its M4-A1 rifle, and fired three bursts. Vincent heard the bullets singing their high pitched chant as they whizzed by his body. One grazed his shoulder, leaving a stinging red slash. He blind-fired his F88, firing it on full auto, hoping to hit something. The figure who was shooting him ducked behind a tree, allowing Vincent to find cover. "Are you alright?" Asuka asked Vincent.

Vincent smiled his usual grin at Asuka "Just a scratch, nothing to worry about." He then turned around to look at Shinji. "How ya holding up mate?"

"Uuuuhhhh…"

"Good, you're not dead." Shinji shifted around as Vincent said that. "Asuka, please tighten up the bands." Vincent peered over the top the crates again. The figures knew where they were, but why weren't they attacking? One more thing Vincent noticed but Asuka brought it up first.

"It's getting dark."

"Shit." Vincent said as he grated his teeth. That's what they were waiting for: darkness. "We gotta move Asuka; we're dead meat if we don't regroup with my squad soon. Reach into my chest pocket; I should have a PDA in there." Asuka placed her gun down, and when it touched the floor, the figures began to shoot. "Come on Asuka, do it!" Vincent raised his rifle and opened fire and began shouting "Eat it you wankers!" Asuka finally got the PDA and began fumbling with it.

"Which button do I press?"

"Go to voice chat! Contact Sergeant Ashe!" Asuka punched up the voice chat and found the sergeant. She pressed "CONTACT" and waited. About 20 yards east, a young, blonde woman wearing a beret, pulled out her PDA and saw the face of a 14-year old girl with the brightest red hair staring back at her.

"Is this Ashe?"

"Yes, this is Sergeant Ashley McCormick. Who is this?" Immediately Vincent grabbed the PDA and spoke to the sergeant.

"Sarge, I'm being boxed in here! I need some firing support and I've got the two kids we found earlier!"

"Alright, I have your position, but we are in a bind here too. We are going to pull back to the city using the APC's. The rendezvous is about a click from your position, near the mess hall we set up."

"Thanks a lot." Vincent pushed the off button, and slid the PDA back into his chest pocket. Meanwhile, Asuka took a few a shots at the figures, but not enough to scare them. Vincent grabbed her by the collar, and put her into his arms. "C'mon, we're getting the hell out of here!"

"I can walk just fine." Asuka protested

"No can do. You're just too slow, and I can't hold your hand all the over there."

"But…"

"Chew me out later." Vincent ran from the cover, now carrying about 250 pounds of equipment and bodies. He bolted from cover to cover, hoping to evade the bullets. The dark came faster than he had hoped for. The sky was turning a navy blue and the orange glow of the sun slowly started to fade. Vincent cursed silently. Then it happened. A bullet caught his leg.

"AAAAUUUGGGGHHH! GODDAMN IT! AAAHHH! FUCK!" Vincent yelled as he grasped his leg. He immediately let go of Asuka, and gave her back the P99. "Go, Asuka." Asuka only grabbed the handgun and emptied the clip.

"They're coming closer."

"Ya don't say? Shit." Vince grabbed his rifle from the ground and started to open fire. But he forgot to reload. clik clik clik Vincent searched for a fresh clip on his body, but he found his Browning handgun faster. He released the safety, and fired all of his shots. The figures now moved swifter; faster, and faster, till you couldn't tell if they were shadows or not. They raised their rifles, ready to kill. But only one stepped forward. In the dim light, Vincent made out the face, if you could call it that. The face was extremely disfigured, like a pancaked Egyptian prince, with the fake beard, and a horn protruding from its forehead. Shinji, who was barely gaining consciousness, could make out the figure too. As his eyes squinted in the dim evening light, he could've sworn that he saw EVA Unit-01.

The figure gave a signal to his comrades, and they all stepped back. It tossed aside the rifle it was using, and clenched his fists. Its green eyes glowed fiercely in the dark, as it gave a throaty cry that Asuka recognized immediately. She had heard that sound when she piloted EVA Unit-02. Vincent immediately went for his knife, leaping up and slashing out at the figure. The figure gracefully moved to dodge the blows, and gave a mighty thrust of its knee to Vincent's torso. Vincent stumbled back, coughing blood, he wasn't slow lucky this time. He walked around slowly until he slumped down on his stomach, not moving. Asuka retreated behind some cardboard boxes, where she reloaded and opened fire. She caught the main figure in both shoulders, and the torso. It only moved its head to look at her. She shrieked immediately.

Then, 3 pops came from out of distance. They came whistling in on the figures, blowing one to pieces and severely injuring the others, as Vincent's squad came out of the night. Leading them was the woman Asuka had talked to on the PDA, Sergeant Ashley. She walked over first to Asuka, surveying her to see if she had any wounds.

"Take this one to the APC!" Two soldiers came by and hoisted Asuka onto their shoulders. Ashley then walked over to Vincent's body. She squatted down and turned his face up to see her. "You are one lucky bastard."

"Am I?" Vincent moaned. The rest of the soldiers took Shinji and Vincent to the APC. As Asuka was taken to the APC, she wondered; was that really an Evangelion, and if so why was it attacking them? The soldiers placed her on one of the benches on the APC, as she drifted off into sleep.

_KRRRRRRRRRR_ "Yes come in."

"Sergeant Ashley, we need to fall back to the nearby city."

"Yes sir, we were just about to do that."

"And one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Check out NERV headquarters, a few clicks outside the city. We've lost contact with a recon group and you're our only available option for rescue."

"Understood sir, Sergeant Ashley McCormick out.


	8. Maybe Tommorow

Author's Note: Wow, it's been a while, but I had to write. In fact this was written in about three hours, but a few days of going over it. I just didn't want to be crappy, half-baked job. On a note, Ashley's rank has been changed from Sergeant to Major. One reason was because I felt that rank was too low with her sort of commanding presence in the battalion, and she seemed like she should be up there. Also, when Ashley reminisces about her past, remember that the seasons are flipped in the southern hemisphere, so even though its winter up here, its summer down there. Hope you enjoy this installment and have a Happy Chrismakuh and an even Happier New Year!

"Echo five do you copy? This is Rouge three, over."

"Rouge three, you're loud and clear; what's up?"

"We've just got our orders in from up top. The brass wants us to check out Tokyo-3, to see if there are any survivors. We're also going to set up a base of operations in the city, which will serve as a rendezvous point of the rest of the battalion, over."

"Alright."

"Who do you have in there?"

"We've got um…some wounded bastards and the kids."

"Roger, move to the center of the convoy, we'll cover the wounded."

"Are you afraid that those bastards that attacked us last night are going to attack us again?"

"Maybe, it's just a precaution. Over and out." The driver turned off the radio and glanced back into the rear. Asuka stared silently at the floor, while Vincent and Shinji slept on their cots. Two more wounded soldiers clutched their rifles as blood stained their bandages.

"They're as cheery as a graveyard" muttered the driver.

The APC bounced and creaked as it made its way over the rocky terrain surrounding what was once Tokyo-3. Asuka's eyes watered from the lack of sleep, but she couldn't rest because rough ride made it uncomfortable for her. Her body weakened with each jolt from the ride and she soon slunk into a fetal position. In her fetal position, she realized that the gun that Vincent gave her was too cumbersome to be kept in its holster. Taking it out, she toyed with the pistol, especially around the trigger and safety.

"One bullet…" she muttered. Asuka pointed the gun to Shinji and then to Vincent. "Bam. Bam." Paying little attention to the two soldiers and the fact that the safety was on didn't stop her from becoming drunk on the power the pistol gave her. It gave Asuka a little confidence knowing that she know had some leverage, albeit imagined. The two soldiers weren't amused by Asuka's hand flipping the safety on and off and let their hands move closer to their triggers.

Giving the benefit of the doubt to the soldiers, Asuka put the gun away in a footlocker. She however twisted her face into disdain, for she only wanted to experiment with it. Reluctantly she brought herself to remember there was a time and a place for everything. Now was not the time to be firing a pistol, but the mere thought! She had not given it much consideration to protect Vincent and Shinji, but now her mind kept revolving around it. To have someone's life in her hands was amazing to Asuka. The feeling itself was surreal; until it brought it her back to the first time she fought in the Evangelion. No Shinji our savior, no wonder girl, just her. It was a chance to prove herself and show the world that she just wasn't another fragile girl. She never was scared when faced with overwhelming odds; on the contrary she lived for it. The pistol, to her, was more than just a pistol. It was her chance for her to shrug of her normal shell and become the person she only dreamed of being.

"Anyone who's still awake back there, you can unbuckle soon. We'll be arriving in Tokyo-3 shortly, the exit sings are to your right and left, and the no smoking signs have been turned off. Thank you for riding on Aussie Air." Asuka took off her restraints, and immediately reached for the footlocker, then shoved the pistol back into her jeans. She then grasped the bar above her as she stood up. The APC slowed down and finally arrived at a stop. The doors flung open with medics grabbing the beds where Vincent and Shinji lay, while Asuka was left to walk out by herself. She walked out into the early morning light, shining an orange-red glow over the mountains surrounding Tokyo-3. Dazed and confused, Asuka walked with the medics, hoping to find out where to go. She followed Shinji and Vincent inside the MEDEVAC tent until she was told to leave by one of the medics.

"Major, you have orders."

"I understand that sir, however we are low in personnel and we do not have the resources necessary to do what you are asking."

"Are you going against our orders, Major McCormick?"

"No, we need supplies and personnel. Preferably people who know the layout of NERV."

"Major, you have that already."

"Sir, I don't quite understand."

"Those two children…Major this is classified intelligence we are going to reveal to you. If were up to me I would not divulge this information to someone such as yourself."

"And this information is?"

"Those two children were Evangelion pilots."

"Evangelion pilots? Those two!"

"They were Evangelion Pilots, Major."

"Sir, you cannot honestly believe that I will allow two children to be navigators, do you? Honestly, I have no time for babysitting two kids!"

"That is your only option."

"Fine, then what about personnel and equipment; we were equipped for search and rescue, not recon."

"We'll have the navy air drop supplies at 1600. After that we will give you 48 hours to finish your job."

"Yes sir, Major Ashley McCormick out." Ashley switched the holo-com off hastily. She sighed as she slouched in her cheap plastic chair, staring at the olive drab canvas. She held her fingers up to make a Churchill victory with her fingers. Or maybe it was peace, she didn't care. Either one allowed her to get back home, back to Australia. She glanced over at her poorly lit desk, which only had her holo-com, two fountain pens and a picture. She slowly got up and walked over to the desk, picking up the picture. In it was her at 17 years with her boyfriend, now husband, and her two little sisters smiling with gaps in their teeth. She smiled faintly and remembered those times, the days before Second Impact.

Ashley McCormick's life was like any normal teenager during the 90's. Being about medium height at 5' 7" and having the brightest blonde hair, she was extremely popular with the guys at her high school. Ashley loved music, she even had a Blink 182 poster on her wall, next to her eighties teen movies like _The Breakfast Club_,_ Sixteen Candles_ and _Ferris Buller's Day Off_.She had two little sisters who were much younger than her because her dad remarried after Ashley's mother died. She kept a happy life, went to school, never giving any thought of joining the military. The picture was dated December 2000, it was just turning summer and her family and her boyfriend went to Sydney for a week. However, her boyfriend got sick and had to leave for his house. Ashley accompied him, never knowing that that would be the last time she would see her father and two sisters again.

She put down the picture after staring at it for a few minutes. Ashley then took of her uncomfortable armor and kneepads.

"They didn't say I had to do the mission now, did they?" Ashley muttered as she threw her boots off in exchange for some sandals. She then took off her shirt, leaving only her bra, pants and her beret.

"Major? You in?"

"Yeah, c'mon in Sergeant." Sergeant Hayes stood in the doorway as an immense figure, standing above 6' 6" and with his beret covering his hazel hair and his aviator's covering his eyes.

"I'm sorry if I come in at a bad time Major…."

"Relax Hayes. Haven't you ever seen a woman in a bra before?"

"Only at the beach ma'am and they weren't my superior officer ma'am." Ashley chuckled a bit, but Hayes stood as still as a stone. "I don't see what was so funny about that ma'am."

"Damn it Hayes, you are too up tight. Relax and tell me why dropped by tent."

"Ma'am, I don't know what to do with the children."

"You mean the two kids we picked up?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Let 'em be, there's no use in telling them to stay put."

"Yes…ma'am, it's just that the red-haired one…"

"Asuka."

"Yeah, Asuka. Well, if I may, she's been giving us a lot of shit lately."

"And so you come to me to handle a little 14 year old, is that right Hayes?"

"What d'ya mean I can't see Shinji!" screeched Asuka.

"I'm sorry, but were not allowed to let civilians inside the MEDEVAC tent." Sighed the nurse

"You're just being this way 'cause I'm a girl! Am I right?" The medic rolled his eyes while Asuka went on with her excuses.

"Look….miss. I can't let you in, I don't care if you were the queen of England, you can't be in here."

"Fine! Be like that!" As Asuka stormed off, the medic breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The "trouble" that Asuka was causing was really just her being confused about her surroundings. Also her hosts were more prepared for soldiers with gunshot wounds, than a 14 year old girl, let alone Asuka's nature. Everywhere she went, she was told to turn around and every time she argued, passionately. It was only after the sixth refusal; Asuka retreated to the outskirts of the camp. Here among the rotting buildings, she found her solace. Among the decay, death and untimely demise of civilization, she felt at peace.

Shinji on the other hand, lay still on his cot. He glanced over to his vitals signs, then to the IV cables. He then noticed he wasn't in a field hospital, he was back at NERV. He still felt weak, and could barely move himself. He let himself relax in his soft bed, reassuring himself that third impact was nothing more than a bad dream. Shinji then heard the door shuffle open; immediately Shinji closed his eyes to where they were slits. In walked a red-haired boy, with bright blue eyes who was about Shinji's height. The closer the figure got, Shinji could make out more details. The stranger suddenly dropped at Shinji's bedside and started to weep.

"Asuka, help me. Help me, help me…"

Shinji wanted to say he wasn't Asuka, but then he suddenly realized that he lost his short hair and its stead was long cinnamon hair. He also realized that wasn't a male anymore. His privates were no longer where they were and there were two large lumps on his chest. Suddenly Shinji started to panic. He wanted to shout out loud, but he lost control of his mouth. He tried to fail his arms but to no avail.

"Help me Asuka…wake up…why won't you won't wake up!

Shinji tried to force his arms to move, but they lay still. Shinji saw the red-haired figure get up and place its arms on him, moving him around. Shinji wanted to scream, but lips would not move. The red-haired figure began moving Shinji's body, slowly at first and then violently. Until Shinji's hospital could not take the stress and ripped open, exposing Shinji's breasts. He grasped where he was, and he became even more scared. Inside Shinji began squirming and writhing, but his body would not respond. He looked up at the figure, who began to unzip his pants. Shinji's eyes began to fill with fear beyond reckoning. He was looking at Asuka, or rather himself.

Shinji woke from his nightmare with a start. Drenched in cold sweat, Shinji tried to shake the notion of the dream of what happened. He tried to get up, and yet again his legs would not move. Shinji threw his head back on the pillow in disgust. His commotion caused a medic to come over.

"Are you doing alright?" Shinji looked up at the medic, giving away a look the nurse had seen all too often.

"I'm fine" Shinji responded flatly.

"Really? Well I'm not one to ask too many questions, but would you mind talking to me about how you are doing?" Shinji glanced at the medic who was smiling sweetly. Shinji relaxed a little, knowing that the medic didn't want to know about why he was drenched in cold sweat.

"I'm…fine." Shinji knew that the medic saw that he was lying, but that didn't seem to stop her.

"Well, it's just nice to talk to a guy who doesn't want his girlfriend or a hooker. But then again, I talk to guys full of testosterone and nothing else." Shinji smirked a little at the remark.

"Heh, I finally got you to show a little emotion Mister Rock. I hope you are feeling a little better."

"Yeah, a little."

"So tell me a little bit about yourself."

"My name's Shinji Ikari and I'm surprised that your Japanese is great."

"Are you ever the cynic? Well, I am in Japan so I should know how to speak the language. Well, Shinji, I had a nice time with you, but I have to check with some other patients."

"Wait…"

"What is it?"

"Your name, what is it?"

"Michelle. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, you just remind me of someone."

"Your girlfriend?" Shinji rolled his eyes at the thought, but responded.

"No, just someone." With that Michelle left, leaving Shinji lying on the bed, wondering about the nurse's name.

"Michelle…that almost sounds like Misato."

In the shadow of a crumbling skyscraper, Asuka held her knees close to her chest. She looked up towards the sky, with the puffy white clouds dotting the clear blue. Her glance then lowered to ground level, where the city was left virtually untouched, except for items that marked the streets. Then she saw something that caught her eye. Lying on its side was a stuffed toy penguin which held an uncanny resemblance to Pen-pen. Slowly Asuka walked towards it, and picked it up. She held it with outstretched arms, and then squeezing it tightly, the toy gave a "squak!" Asuka loosened her hold, but did not lose grip of the toy penguin.

"I thought you were too old for stuffed animals" said a familiar voice. Asuka turned around to find Vincent leaning against the skyscraper, with his rifle shouldered.

"Vincent!" Asuka yelled as she ran toward him "I thought you were injured."

"True," replied Vincent "I was shot, but it wasn't serious. I can still walk and hold a rifle. And on top of that, we are so low on personnel here; they decided to cut my leave short."

"I'm just glad that you're okay."

"You should be more concerned about Shinji than me. He's still healing up in the medical ward. I guess last night gave him quite a shock, considering he had bullet wounds and fatigue. But he's a tough kid, he'll pull through."

"Yeah…"

"Funny, I expected you to be overjoyed. Isn't he your lov…?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Asuka interrupted. Vincent could only laugh at Asuka's reaction.

"You kids, you're always a crackup."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Nothing. Come on, your too far away from camp and my commanding officer needs to talk to you."

"Yeah, sure."

"Asuka, seeing that you are carrying around that stuffed animal, you want a piggy-back?"

"No…yes."

"Right then, hop on." Asuka was reluctant to get on, but she was tired and he was offering to carry her. For once since third impact, Asuka was finally able to feel secure.


	9. Such Great Heights

Author's Note: Holy Crap. I sure did take my sweet time with this chapter. I promise the chapter should be due before May, but I'm not making any promises. SAT, ACT and AP tests are coming up, so is Prom and sports. I've got my hands full. Hell, I was talking to my date about what kind of limo we should be getting while writing. Enough about my life, you don't want to hear about that! Read it and let me know if it's awesome or if it sucks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or its creation studio GAINAX. Frankly, if I had that kind of money, I'd get a new HD-TV, Xbox 360 and a 1967 Ford Mustang!

Vincent moved the cloth door so his head could peer into the MEDEVAC tent. Slowly, he walked through the doorway, with Asuka still on his back. A nurse was tending to one of the wounded soldiers when Vincent approached her behind and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me; is a boy named Shinji Ikari here? I'm Sergeant Elric; I was given orders by the major to pick him up." The red-haired nurse took of the gloves off her hands while replying

"Oh yes, you're talking about the boy your platoon brought here the other night. He's lying on a bed on the far right end of the tent, near the medical equipment. He's still recovering from his wounds. They aren't anything serious, but he should take it easy."

"Right, thanks."

"Is that girl on your shoulders all right?"

"Oh her?" Vincent turned his head and noticed Asuka had fallen asleep and was drooling on his uniform "Christ" he muttered "Do you mind if I lay her down on a bed?"

"No, I don't mind." the nurse said pointing to a spare cot "You can lay her down there." Vincent slowly took Asuka off his shoulders and pulled the sheets over her body. He then went looking for Shinji.

It was odd having an empty MEDEVAC tent, especially in the current status of the Tokyo-3. Vincent was expecting refugees packing the MEDEVAC tent, but only a few wounded soldiers and even less refugees lay there. A regiment of Australian troops occupied an entire metropolis and no one seemed to notice. The city lay as dead as it did when the troops arrived. Then Vincent remembered about those things that attacked him the night before. Did they have something to do with the disappearances?

Shinji lay on his back with his hands clasped behind his head, staring at the tarp over his head. He felt over his bandaged left shoulder, where a bullet punctured his vest. He felt lucky that his vest was durable and that only one bullet broke through, while the other bullet was caught by the vest. He still felt very weak and could barely walk. The nurse told him his body was just recovering from the amount of blood he lost, but that he shouldn't worry. Supposedly the human body can survive without much blood, but the shock is the worst and Shinji was already past that.

"Shinji. Feeling any better?"

"I'm fine, nothing more than a headache."

"Are you sure? I don't think you've ever been shot before, it's not something you shrug off in a few days…especially if you are fourteen."

"I'll be fine." Shinji tried to lift himself up, but then collapsed on his cot. Shinji tried to get up again, but Vincent stopped him.

"Heh, never figured you for being the strong, silent type." Vincent then put his hand behind Shinji's back to carry him off his bed. "I always figured you for the stupid, skinny type."

"Thank you Vincent, thanks a lot."

"Come on, hop on my back. I can't have you slowing me down, especially when you are needed."

"Needed? What I am I needed for?"

"You an' Asuka need to show up with me at a mission briefing and I'm already in deep shit as it is."

"Where's Asuka?"

"You ask too many goddamn questions Shinji; she's asleep on a cot near the entrance."

Vincent did not want to reveal anything to Shinji prematurely. He knew what Shinji and Asuka were needed for, but he knew that they both would not like it. Vincent felt in his heart that his superiors should have left them both alone. However because of there background, he knew that was impossible. From what Major McCormick told him, they were both former Evangelion pilots and therefore were formerly tied to the NERV organization. In the post Third-Impact world, NERV was a name barely mentioned, not because of what they had done, in fact no one knew who caused Third Impact, but how much money countries had thrown into this organization, many of them believing that salvation lay in this organization. After Third Impact, the countries all turned on the deceased organization known as NERV.

"Shinji…"

"Yeah, what is it Vincent."

"I told you to call me Vince."

"Sorry…what do you want?"

"Asuka's sleeping on the cot over there." Seeing Asuka sleeping made Vincent feel worse about the mission. The two of them were only in there early teens and what did they have? They had lost everything in this world, and all they had left was each other. What if one of them died in a few days? If was to die, what would then happen to the other? Vincent tried to stray away from the thought, but he knew he only scratched the surface of the Pandora's Box these two shared. "Shinji, I'll carry Asuka, seeing that she's asleep. Do you think you could walk with crutches?"

"I could try."

"Then wait here, I'll see what I can do." Vincent took a few paces, until he was out of Shinji's sight. He scanned the tent for a pair of crutches and found a pair lying on the ground like someone had left them in a hurry. He picked them up and set them to Shinji's height."

"Oy Shinji!" Vincent walked back to where Shinji was laying and threw the crutches at his torso "These are yours." Shinji fumbled with the crutches until he got his bearings. "Come on," Vincent picked up Asuka and started to walk out the door. "We're late."

"Would you mind explaining yourself Sergeant?" Major McCormick coldly asked from her chair in the darkened room.

"Shinji had trouble walking and Asuka was asleep, ma'am."

"Sergeant, I think you could handle two little children, or should I find a more competent replacement?"

"Yes, ma'am I can handle two little children."

"Then wake up sleeping beauty; she's drooling on your uniform." Vincent looked down at Asuka and saw that she was indeed drooling, again. He shook her to wake her up, but he only got a few mumbles. He finally stood Asuka on her legs and she woke up, still groggy.

"…yawn what's going on?"

"Take a seat Asuka and Shinji." She motioned to Sergeant Vincent to take a seat. The room went dark as a beam of light expanded into a holographic projection, filling the room with green light. The schematics from the last drop listed the number of ammo boxes, rifles, food and medical supplies.

"This is what we received from our last drop, ladies and gentlemen. 500 new M-8 rifles to replace our F-88's and as we have seen on our last skirmish with Charlie, we have seen the regular ammunition does not affect whatever armor they have. To combat this, I have personally requested ammunition with plenty of stopping power which includes more M-32 Grenade launchers, Jackhammer shotguns and tracer rounds. We've also been given a substantial upgrade in our armor system to Dragon-skin and an on-board C4ISR system. In conclusion, we are an effective fighting force.

"Major," said Sergeant Hayes "We've received our orders from the brass and we've received our equipment. I don't understand why we are waiting here."

"If you let me finish Sergeant, I will explian. Even though we recived our new gear, we are still lacking a vital few."

"Primarily maps." said a dark haired, badly shaven lieutenant "The C4ISR system has GPS integration and GPS come from satellites. If I recall NERV is an underground fortress that can deflect any sort of vision whether it be visual, thermal even electro magnetic. We have their 50 layers of titanium shielding as well as the mountain side to thank for that."

"As Lieutenant Fairfax pinted out that is one of our concerns. However, I'm assured that our maps will be downloaded to us through our C4ISR system."

"_Psh_," muttered a square jawed Sergeant called Freemantle "with our communications in disarray, how do you propose we do that? Our NERV maps are so damn incomplete that we might as well download our schematics from Mapquest!"

"We will have our maps in our PDA's but as Lieutenant Fairfax pointed out, they will have holes in them." At this moment the sergeants and lieutenants from each platoon broke out over not having any navigation. After minutes of boldly going nowhere, Sergeant Elric stood up and boomed.

"We do have an alternative!" Suddenly the debate ceased and all eyes focused on him.

"Just what the bloody hell is this 'alternative' Elric?" voiced Sergeant Cester, a college dropout who wore his peace signs next to bullet casings for good luck.

"Major, can you please elaborate on my point." McCormick glanced menacingly and then breathed a heavy sigh.

"Our alternative is those two children sitting next to Sergeant Elric."

"You have got to be shittin' us Major!" yelled Freemantle "You can't honestly believe that we, I especially, are going to put our lives in the hands of these two kids." Both Asuka and Shinji looked first at Sergeant Elric, then at the Major. Both of them were astonished that they were going to lead soldiers right back into the complex that they had just escaped.

"However, we don't have much of choice Lieutenant. These are the only two survivors who know the layout of NERV." The color from both Asuka and Shinji's faces drained immediately after hearing those words. The both of them knew there would be no backing out

"You can't take us back there!" Asuka immediately piped up "We won't go!"

"Believe me Asuka; I would not resort to using children unless I absolutely had to." Major McCormick responded.

"What about just patching into the NERV network and just getting the layout that way?" Shinji said calmly "That way you don't have to use us."

"That's true," a young woman said "I've got a few good hackers in my squad who could do it."

"Sergeant Cole, this is an installation that would probably rival military networks such as the Pentagon or MI-6. A few hackers won't do it."

"Major, it's schematics we want, not classified intelligence. A single hacker could pull it off."

"Fine, we will include that in the mission plan. However we need you two to lead us to the terminals. Now to the mission layout," Suddenly in the middle of the table a satellite photo sprang up marked at certain points in red. "At 1900 Fairfax and Freemantle's platoons will load into the ASLAV and will deploy at the main entrance of NERV at 1930, which is being opened by our engineers which is being opened as we speak. At 1940 all platoons will disembark into NERV. Your Primary Mission Objective is to obtain any documents or data pertaining to any project NERV was working on. Canberra wants to have all information to see if there is anything of use to our country. Secondary objectives are to obtain personnel and/or banking records. That it is all."

At that moment all officers stood up from their chairs and saluted "Ma'am! Duty First!"

"Tigers Dismissed!"

Vincent walked out with Asuka and Shinji after the other officers had dispersed. All of them were silent as Vincent walked towards his squad's tent with Shinji and Asuka, flanking him. A few minutes afterwards, Vincent broke the silence.

"If you are coming with us, you are going to need some equipment." Asuka was the first to respond to Vincent with her usual know-it-all attitude.

"Well of course, we need bullet-proof vests don't we?"

"More than that Asuka, but you're on the right track." Vincent then walked into his squad's tent where they were all gearing up to go. Ammo boxes, pictures of loved ones, water bottles and porn magazines littered the floor. Vincent walked over to his footlocker, which he had personalized extensively and exclusively of stickers of "Red Vs. Blue" and Tarentino movies. He quickly removed the locks and threw open the footlocker.

"Shinji, Asuka," Vincent pulled two wristwatches out of his footlocker and handed them to both of them. "You'll need these just in case you get lost. They're trackers, so I'll know where both of you are." Asuka briefly looked at the plain wristwatch and immediately shot at Vincent.

"We won't be staying in here, are we?"

"Of course not Asuka," Vincent coolly replied. "You an' Shinji will be sharing a tent."

"WHAT!"

"Is something wrong with that Asuka?"

"I won't be staying in the same room as Shinji! You don't what he's like!" Shinji only rolled his eyes. Even after all the trials they had shared, Asuka was still Asuka.

"If you'd prefer, you can stay here with all of us men who haven't seen a woman out of uniform in the longest time." Asuka turned uneasy at the notion of it and was just about to shout something when Vincent interrupted her. "Ha! I'm only kidding Asuka, but it's not my decision. It's the Major's." Vincent kicked the locks down and the footlocker closed with a satisfying click. He then led the two of them outside to a smaller tent between the main barracks and the MEDEVAC tent. The tent was covered by a green tarp and was barely big enough for Asuka and Shinji, even by Japanese standards. "Here are your lovely accommodations with plenty of room to spare. Armor is right by your beds and so is your gear that you will be taking with you and we will be leaving momentarily so don't waste your bloody precious time."

"Vincent!" Asuka whined "you can't be serious…"

"Oh, but I am." Replied Vincent as he slammed the door in both of their faces. "Oh yeah, hurry it up in there. The tent doubles as our ammo tent!"

"He could've told us that earlier." Shinji sighed.

"That bastard! If he thinks can treat a woman like this…ARGH!" Asuka threw herself on the cot, tossing her hair over her head. "What are you smirking at Shinji?" Shinji already strapped on his armor and didn't realize he was smirking at Asuka.

"Uh….nothing Asuka….nothing." He hoped that she didn't take it any further like she usually did. Asuka did not even look at him again. She reached besides her bunk and strapped on the armor.

"Asuka?"

"Yes Shinji?"

"Have you ever wondered what we did to get us here?"

"Not really. Besides, only somebody as idiotic as you would think of bringing that up."

"Well, it's just we wanted to forget about the Evangelions and NERV, right? Then why are leading soldiers right back in there? It just doesn't feel right to go back where we came from."

"That's just the way it is Shinji." Asuka sighed "Believe me, I'd rather be here than out there in the city." She strapped on her belt that was left on her bed by Vincent, but she said without looking at Shinji. "It's our past Shinji, we have to make things right."

"Sending soldiers inside is not going to change anything Asuka! It's not going to bring everyone back! Toji's still going to be dead! Rei's not here! Everything's still shit!" Asuka stared at Shinji for the longest time; she had never seen him this angry before. Usually he broke down in tears or collapsed under his own stress. It was almost as if Shinji had become a completely different person.

"Well…true," Asuka replied "but the same thing would happen if we didn't help the soldiers."

"So, we might as well just do nothing then. It would save us the trouble." Asuka grimaced when Shinji said this. She did not want to get into one of his "fights" where Shinji got depressed and Asuka had to pull out of him out of it. Already frustrated, Asuka shoved his armor in to his chest.

"Put on your armor Shinji. I don't want to hear your bitching anymore."

"But…" Shinji tried to protest, but Asuka was already going towards the door.

"Put the damn armor on Shinji; I'll be waiting outside." Without another word, Asuka had left, leaving only Shinji and his armor. Hesitantly, he threw it over his body and adjusted to his frame. He had realized that he lost a lot of weight during the few days Asuka and he had spent in the wasteland. His clothes felt baggy, albeit breezy. He eyed the small tent. His eyes landed on a footlocker lying near his cot's footrest. Lying on the top was a small Glock handgun with three clips of ammunition fully loaded. He barely used a gun before, save for the Evangelion and the incident that happened a few days ago. He fitted the clips into his vest, emptied the Glock's chamber of its rounds and placed it in his hands. It felt heavy.

Shinji only knew how to squeeze the trigger and nothing about safety locks or jamming. He twirled the gun his hand, blissfully ignorant of the one bullet in the chamber. He snapped the gun form corner to corner and thrust the muzzle to his teeth and his head. He looked straight into the dark abyss staring back at him from a barrel. So inviting, so peaceful, the dark depths welcomed Shinji as one of their own. He didn't realize his finger squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

The bullet rocketed out of chamber ripping through the pulp and material. Shinji sat looking surprised, open-eyed, looking blankly into reality.

The bullet had not killed him. Rather it tore through the tent, making a smoking hole through it. Startled, Shinji placed the gun in its holster.

"You hear that?" Asuka said warily as she heard the shot.

"Eh, best not to worry about it," replied Vincent "get in the ASLAV. We'll be leaving soon." Vincent looked worried though. The shot had not come from one of the street gangs that roamed the city, it had been much closer. He suddenly remembered. He cursed himself silently as he remembered that he left a Glock in the teen's tent. Damn it, he thought; he hoped Shinji hadn't done what though he did.

To his great surprise, Shinji came walking with his vest on.

"Goddamn it Shinji. You gave me a scare there."

"I'm fine; the gun just…went off."

"Cut the crap." Vincent sighed "Shinji, we'll be going into your old organization. I don't want anyone to compromise the mission, military or not. I'm not as nice as I am now when I'm in the field." Shinji only nodded his response. "Get in."

Asuka blew her hair up and watched it float down, softly and quietly. She clutched her knees uncomfortably on the ASLAV seat.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"No problem Shinji."

"Ready?"

"No."

"Neither am I."


	10. Hang me up to Dry

Disclaimer: I do not own "Neon Genesis Evangelion" or its production company GAINAX. Heck, I don't even own stock from these guys, if they offer any.

The sweet chorus of a songbird quieted Shinji's mind, as he jumped out of the ASLAV. It had been a while since he had heard the sounds of animals, namely because he never took the time to notice. However, among all the chaotic bustle of the military setting up their Command Post, he was hard pressed to concentrate on the melody. But for just a moment, Shinji forgot he was in the middle of a disaster area, until he felt a punch against his back.

"Keep it moving idiot!" Shinji sighed; he could always count on Asuka to bring him back to reality. He awkwardly turned around to face Asuka, expecting to see the normal, tough-as-nails Asuka. "Please?"

"Asuka, are you feeling alright?"

"Shut up Shinji! I'm trying to be nice to you for once. You had better not take advantage of it, 'kay?" Shinji shoulders slumped as Asuka walked briskly in front of him while Shinji trailed behind. Just like the good old days.

"Sergeant Elric!" screamed Major McCormick amidst the chaos of the unloading. The sergeant briskly walked over to his superior, straightening to attention. "You have new orders," she said nodding to Shinji and Asuka "you now have custody of Ikari and Soryu."

"Yes ma'am."

"I've given you this _prestigious_ honor for one reason: they seem to trust you. They are both very young, so I would not trust them with anyone, save for yourself."

"Yes ma'am."

"Carry on sergeant."

"Thank you, ma'am" Elric gave McCormick a swift salute and turned around to join up with his squad. Elric was quite adamant about not taking these kids into any sort of combat zone. He realized that men and supplies were both in short supply, but that still did not excuse the use of children in a combat zone. He sighed as he realized how ironic that his government was trying to prevent the use of child soldiers in war zones before Third and Second Impact, but came to use them when push came to shove.

"Yo, Elric!" shouted Lieutenant Fairfax, looking more ragged than he did a few hours ago.

"Fairfax, when the hell are you going to shave?"

"Well, the wonderful Major dropped us supplies and ammunition, but no razors or cream for that matter."

"Why don't you use your knife and some water, Fairfax? Anyways, is there something you wanted me for?"

"Crap Vince. It's me mate, not some random bloke off the streets." Fairfax for being the most unorganized and ragged of the 5th/7th Battalion was also the most perceptive. Nobody could hide anything from him, be it private or not. "Something is bothering you mate, that much is certain. If it's anything I'd say it be about those kids were babysitting, am I right?"

"As always Fairfax, you're right. I hate the fact were taking these kids on a military mission. We don't even know if those things will be in there; for all the fuck we know, they could be entrenched in there. I can just see them kickin' their goddamn feet up and just waiting for us to walk into some fucking ambush."

"Whow mate. Slow down there, we can't have you off your game now! You're the calm guy in this platoon and possibly the only one who can think before he squeezes the trigger." Vince felt a hand slap his back hard as Sergeant Cester came from behind.

"If I'm not interrupting you two ladies, word just came down that we're going in."

Fairfax's face twisted into disappointed as he heard Cester talking. Not only did Fairfax have it in for Cester for being insubordinate, but he was not looking forward to going underground. He hated it being underground.

"Goddamn it Cester! Can you stop being a jackass for once in your life? Who did you hear this from?" snapped the Lieutenant

"Major McCormick, sir; she wants us at the maw in 10 minutes. From what she told me, our objective is to secure the former NERV command center."

"Great, I hate being the bait." Fairfax sighed as he shouldered his rifle and went towards the maw. When Fairfax left the two sergeants, Elric turned to Cester hoping that he had seen Shinji and Asuka.

"Yeah, I saw them. They're over by the maw, which we need to be at right about now." Replied Cester.

"Does the platoon know about our mission?" asked Elric

"I let my squad know and the word went around pretty fast." Cester paused for a moment and turned to Elric. "You know Vince; I'd keep my eye on that Shinji kid. Call it a hunch, but I just have a bad vibe about him."

"He's a kid Cester; he can't be some murderous psychopath."

"I'm just saying that because when you rescued the two of them from Tokyo-3, I took my squad inside to see if any scavengers were inside. There were bodies, about five, give or take a few, with rifles that looked like they could have punched holes in our esteemed guest. They were brutally murdered Vincent, like something you would see out of a horror film. Windpipes cut, arms severed, gunshot holes through the entire place, blood everywhere."

"And you think it could have been either of them? For all we know it could have been the girl or both of them."

"Stop defending him Vincent! You know as well as I do that Shinji had the blood all over his shirt. The girl couldn't have done it. She may be somewhat of a bitch, but that's all a cover up." Elric sighed; he knew Cester was on to something. For all he knew, he could have been right. Shinji did have blood on him that night; he was drenched in it to say the least. Vincent smoothed his hair, as he remembered that Asuka was not that trigger happy because he had lent her his sidearm during an attack a few nights ago. "I'm sorry Vince, but you are going to have to watch him in there. You're probably right about all those jackasses waiting in there, and if you were right, those two kids may feel some sort of resentment about that place."

"Crap Cester, I'm going to need a night in a pub after all this is said and done."

"I'll gladly you join you. Let's go to the maw."

The maw was the name the soldiers had given to NERV's entrance. It was huge, with rows of "teeth" along the opening, and was lined with former JSSDF vehicles like rotting carcasses. Platoons from the 5th/7th Battalion took defensive positions while one platoon took their positions next to the entrance, ready to storm the dead NERV center. Sergeant Elric took Asuka and Shinji by his side, as he formed up in front of his squad. Lieutenant Fairfax took a seat, as he unfurled a rough drawing of NERV in front of the soldiers. He gave a signal to the men to stand down and to sit down and motioned to Asuka and Shinji to sit by him.

"G'afternoon mates and welcome back to work. Before we go on the briefing I want all of you to stow any immature shit and act like actual military men and not some sorry-ass recruits. Our primary objective is to secure the NERV command center located here and obtain data files pertaining to anything that NERV might have been working on. Secondary objective is to secure any finished experimental items."

"So, is NERV like Black Mesa? Complete with teleportation guns and HEV suits?" joked Private Radcliffe.

"Radcliffe, what did I just get through about not acting like a goddamn kid? You're lucky I'm such a nice guy, or else I'd go Sergeant Hartman on your ass and skull-fuck you." Radcliffe and all the other soldiers who were smiling suddenly turned serious, after hearing Fairfax. "We don't know what they were working on, per se. However, if it's anything like a radiation rifle, we are obviously not going to be taking it back. There is something that interests the brass dubbed "Evangelion." From what we've heard from intelligence and the rumor-mill, it's a humanoid cyborg that is about 10-15 stories high with destructive capabilities akin to a nuclear weapon." Asuka and Shinji shifted uncomfortably in their positions, after Fairfax referred to the Evas as "nuclear weapons."

"Your rumor mill is right" Asuka muttered. "The Eva's are very powerful and if was used right now, you and your entire battalion would be wiped out."

"Alright, anything else we should know? Like weapons, artifacts or more of these mech things?"

"If this is an interrogation, we're…"

"Asuka, if I may call you that, I am not interrogating you or Shinji for that matter. I am only concerned for the safety of my men, that's all."

"There are, or were, three Evangelions at NERV" Shinji muttered.

"He speaks English? I thought you could only speak English, not him." said Fairfax.

"I taught Shinji all he knows," Asuka put in proudly "and yes he's right. There should be…." She paused for a moment and stuttered as she tried to pronounce the number 'three.' It suddenly caught up with her the horrific images of her Eva's final moment as it was mutilated by the faux Evangelions. The pain wrenched her gut as she felt the teeth digging in her flesh again.

"Asuka? Keep it together girl, nothing's happened, and we're still here." Fairfax whispered as he tried to soothe her. The soldier's started to whisper to each other about her being a nut. Sergeant Hayes finally told the gossiping soldiers to be quiet, even though he doubted using children as guides and this only bolstered his claim.

"Alright, so there are 'evas' down there; is there any way to activate them?"

"No, you can't activate them," Shinji responded "but _we_ can." Sergeant Cester looked quizzically at Shinji and spoke out.

"You and the girl can control these mechs? Why can't any of us use them to get them out?"

"You need something called a 'synch-rate' with the Eva's. Without one, you couldn't even get it to twitch."

"Alright," interrupted Fairfax "if Shinji's right, then none of us can move these things, so we shouldn't worry about it. Nevertheless, we still need to move on to our primary objective now. Suit up and load out, we've got some searching to do." The soldiers stood up, shouldered their rifles, and began to march towards the maw.

The platoon arrived at the lift down to NERV headquarters, only to find it was littered with dried blood and a crusting yellow liquid. Eerily though, the bodies were gone leaving only uniforms, equipment and rifles.

"Corporal Blair, get over here." Fairfax shouted. A tall woman with hazel hair and freckles walked over to Fairfax. "Run a bypass of the system and get this lift working." Shinji, who was feeling much calmer around the soldiers, approached the lieutenant.

"Sir, you don't have to have her hack into the systems." Before the Lieutenant could respond to Shinji, Shinji pulled out his card and swiped it through a reader, opening the doors and lighting the path below. Fairfax and the platoon were stunned; this kid obviously had much more use than they had thought originally. Fairfax waved to the platoon to board the platform, while motioning to guard the entrance. Amidst the confusion, Asuka pocketed a Glock handgun with a full clip. Unlike Shinji, she was not going to give away her trust so easily to these soldiers.

The platform whined to life as the chains creaked and platform began to inch its way down to the surface. Soon, what was formerly known as the Tokyo-3 NERV complex came into view. Elric, as well the soldiers, gaped in awe at the sheer architectural genius of an entire ecosystem that was at least a 10 stories underground. Shinji moved over towards Asuka, brushing his hand against her hand. Asuka turned towards Shinji, while Shinji gazed into the wreckage of their former command center. That hated place where the both of them had faced death and destruction many times before. And now they were returning to it with soldiers whose aim was to pillage whatever scraps were left. Shinji softly grasped Asuka's hand and she squeezed it back.

"You'll stay with me on this, won't you?" Shinji whispered to Asuka. She only squeezed his hand harder.

"Idiot, of course I will. Just don't yourself shoot yourself in the foot." Shinji started to feel a cold sweat running down his back as the crater from the last battle came into view. He sensed that Asuka was worried also, but he held his tongue. Knowing Asuka, she would get extremely defensive. He only felt her hand grow cold as she saw the crater too. Maybe it was a sign of things to come, but Shinji was too nervous to notice and Asuka was busy fingering the Glock with her free hand.

Minutes passed and the lift was finally coming to a rest on the first level of the NERV center. Fairfax nodded to Vincent as he motioned his squad to take a position around the door. The door creaked to life and sprang opened halfway, enough for two men to get through. As the men loaded out and began their sweep of the area, they began to grow nervous. They weren't the first ones down here since Third Impact. Hayes took his squad to cover the hallway leading into the lobby, while Cester and his squad investigated the damage. Elric, his squad and Asuka and Shinji were the last to exit the lift. They were all equally terrified.

The walls were scrawled with peeling blood and the yellowish liquid they had seen previously. The squads eyed them equally with curiosity and fear as the markings were in English, Arabic, Japanese, and lastly, Latin. The markings said all the same thing: in Japanese "arinomama," in Arabic "حقيقة," in English "truth," and lastly, covering the ceiling with its brown-red letters "veritas."

"Christ mate, this some weird shit going!" screamed one, young private in Cester's squad as he looked towards the ceiling.

"Secure that shit Stoner! It's just writing, not goddamn bombs." Cester calmly said to his greenhorn private. Fairfax was even looking at the ceiling in disbelief. He muttered something along the lines of that this was not supposed to be happening in this day and age. The soldiers had now realized that they had stepped into a world they had never before perceived and their morale suffered. Some began begging Lieutenant Fairfax to call for reinforcements, while others began to lose faith in the mission. Meanwhile, Shinji and Asuka stood, still holding each others hands stood unflinching. This was nothing they hadn't seen before.

"You pansy-ass, sorry excuse for soldiers!" screamed Hayes "Get back in your damn squads, right this fucking instant!" Seconds after Hayes had screamed, the halls began to echo with the sound of rattling gears. Cester and Elric took flanking positions around Hayes' squad as the sound intensified. Fairfax put Shinji and Asuka behind him as he centered his M-8 rifle at the hallway and readied a grenade. Asuka began to finger the Glock in the back of her pants, ready to pull it out. Hayes kicked down some tables that were lying around and directed his squad to take cover as they placed their rifles above the tables. They adjusted their sights and some fingered their grenades in case that sound came from the _things _they had fought earlier.

The sound grew louder, as it inched closer and closer down the hallway. The creaky sound of joints and bumps of items clattered, echoed throughout the hallway. The fingers began to grace the edges of the triggers, ready to fire at a moments notice. The sound grew louder until it abruptly stopped, mere meters from the platoon's position. Then Elric motioned to his squad to cover him, as he squeezed of a few rounds into the hallway. The crack quieted the platoon, relieved that nothing had responded. Then, the creaks started again and a voice echoed from the hallways.

"Stop shooting! I'm human!" Shinji and Asuka immediately recognized the voice. They thought that he was dead for sure after Third Impact, the invasion, and even his rouge Evangelion should have killed him. The voice belonged to Toji. They ran towards the voice, brushing the hands of the soldiers away. Toji was there alright, alive and kicking. He was sitting in a wheelchair and had an MP5 submachine gun on his lap. His face was worn and tired, but he still had that gruff demeanor that defined him.

"Crap, am I happy te see you guys. It's been nothing but hell down here for meh, but damn, you didn't hav te be so goddamn trigger happy."

"Sorry Toji," replied Shinji "the soldiers were wound a little tight."

"Hol' the up dere, ya brought soldiers? Actual honest ta gawd soldiers?"

"Yeah, they aren't here to kill anybody," Asuka put in as Fairfax and the rest of the platoon came into the hallway. Their rifles were still drawn, but most of them were relived that only a boy was around the corner.

" 'Ello mate. Glad to know you're not one of those things too."

"Anno…."Toji replied. Shinji suddenly remembered that Toji had one of the lowest scores in his English scores.

"Lieutenant Fairfax, Toji's not too great with English. He'll have a hard time understanding you."

"No shit, he won't. We can talk later guys, but right now we've got to move." Toji said hurriedly as he raised his MP5. The soldiers raised their rifles at Toji; Toji placed his MP5 on his lap carefully to appease them. "Look 'ere. Those damn buggers will be comin' soon. I've already supplied the command centur with plent'y of ammo and food."

"What's he saying?" Vincent asked sternly as he motioned to his soldiers to lower their rifles.

"He's saying that those things that wrote those words will be coming for us. Toji said that he stocked the command center with plenty of supplies, isn't that right Toji?" Not knowing what she said, Toji nodded and sped his wheels towards the command center. Lieutenant Fairfax motioned to the sergeants to flank the guides and he would take Cester's squad to the rear. The platoon raced down the hallways, not even bothering to hear the scratching coming from the vents and walls.

They knew no fear. They had no comprehension of preserving their lives. They were lead on animal instinct. The Veritas drew their crudely made spears and followed the unsuspecting platoon. Three was about 10 of them, more than a match for these weakling humans. Their Empresses told them that the self-destructive reign of humanity was coming to a close and the first step was to eradicate the species from the face of the cursed planet.

They had wrongly calculated the senses of human, as one of the soldiers noticed them crawling on the ceiling, firing a burst from his Jackhammer shotgun. The Veritas sprang on to the unsuspecting guard as the soldiers in front ran faster, cowering from their attack. The remaining soldiers fired their rifles, proving to be more effective than last time, but still not enough to turn the tide in their favor.

One Veritas turned his horned face towards a soldier who was doing the most damage and leaped towards him, knocking the soldier down. The soldier knew he had three shells left, not enough to take this sucker out. He mustered up what courage he had left and yelled out "EAT THIS!" as he placed that Jackhammer squarely in the mouth of the Veritas as it roared over a kill. The blast blew the soldier and the Veritas back, both injured, but the soldier had survived the ordeal. The Veritas stumbled with half of its face blown off and blood rushing down his shoulder. He looked down and prayed to his Empresses for forgiveness for the humiliating death by a human.

Noticing the fall of her comrades, the surviving leader threw a soldier meters, before calling to her comrades in a whispered yell. She turned her bearded face to her comrades and initiated the retreat. This was a momentary defeat for her and her comrades. There would come a day, Empresses willing, these humans would rue this day.

The surviving soldiers carried the wounded back towards platoon. The skirmish took a heavy toll by taking out a quarter of Cester's squad. The men formed a barrier around the guides, one even picked up Toji out his wheelchair for fair that he would slow them down. Toji, now looking down on Asuka and Shinji, had still managed to keep his head through the ordeal.

"I tol' ya it was hell down here!" Asuka grabbed Shinji's hand and grabbed the Glock with her free hand. She recognized those things so vividly. They weren't aliens, demons or mutants and she shuddered at the thought of it. She squeezed Shinji's hand tighter as she quickened her pace. Asuka promised herself that she wouldn't be the damsel in distress this time.

"Asuka…" Shinji said in a quivering voice. "those were Evangelions, weren't they?" Asuka could only nod.

Author's Note: Well this is fracking awesome! I finally finished the tenth chapter of "Exiled." Woot for laziness for delaying me and a Woot to my memory that remembers these things and a Woot to the beta readers. On a side note, to anybody who was curious, the chapters were indeed taken from songs. Here's the list

1) What ever became of Likely Lads- The Libertines

2) Some other time- Yoko Kanno

3) Different names for the Same Places- Death Cab for Cutie

4) Come as You Are- Nirvana

5) Sleep Now in the Fire- Rage Against the Machine

6) Smile Like You Mean it- The Killers

7) Paralyzed- Rock Kills Kid

8) Maybe Tommorow- Stereophonics

9) Such Great Heights- The Postal Service

10) Hang Me Up to Dry- The Cold War Kids


	11. Evil

Disclaimer: I do not own GAINAX or any part of Evangelion. Nor do I own the songs listed on this and prior chapters. If I did own them, I'd be a lot better off monetarily speaking. But then again, if I did, I would never make Evangelion own like it does.

Amid the screaming of men and hissing of alien tongues in the hallway, Shinji found himself awestruck by the carnage. A sane part of him knew it was dangerous to be in the middle of a firefight, but he slouched down onto the floor observing the battle. It was odd, foreign to his eyes, regardless of his experience in his Evangelion. Although the difference between that this was very little, the direct contact of flesh and metal was captivating. Unlike his hours of mind-numbing targeting exercises and minutes of adrenaline-fueled battle, he felt helpless in this particular situation. He felt the bullets hissing and screaming beside his head, but still did not move. They came closer to his skull and torso; he could feel each bullets ripping through the still air around him. Until finally, one grazed his neck, searing his skin with it's white-hot casing. Shinji clutched his neck, applying pressure to it to try and stop the bleeding. Despite the pain shooting up his neck and up into his shoulders and head, he smiled.

With his free arm, Shinji crawled under the gunfire towards the walls, to avoid the bullets in the narrow corridor. Propping himself against the cold wall, he tried to control his breathing, taking in each breath of the cold air in his lungs slowly. He turned his head towards the soldiers who were now beginning to slowly fall back. Some carried their wounded comrades and others were firing of controlled bursts of suppression fire. He could barely make out Asuka's face against the muzzle flash, but he could see her behind Vincent and in turn Asuka was hurriedly pushing Toji. He tried screaming to the soldiers, but his cries fell upon deaf ears. He bellowed as loud as he could, but the soldiers could barely understand his Japanese. Slowly, the soldiers made a firm retreat, focusing on the aggressors who were attacking them. None of them even dared look back for any survivors and Shinji was too dazed to follow. He lost control of breathing and gasped for oxygen in the sweat-soaked, blood-drenched air, but he soon realized how foolish he was. His breathing echoed through the still halls, only accompanied by the grunts of the others. It was so dark Shinji couldn't see them coming, but he heard their light footsteps coming towards him followed by jabs of their spears into random corpses. Panicking, his breathing quickened as they came closer, clobbering and bashing corpses along the way. Finally Shinji saw a way out through a door that was a meter or two away. The problem was that it was closer towards the aggressors. Testing his luck, Shinji slid closer towards the door. Quietly, he slipped inside and hid under a table, clutching his entire body together. The figures, not fooled by his trick, bashed the window in with a salvaged crowbar, sending shards of glass flying into the room. One leaped onto the desk Shinji was under with barely a sound and thrust its spear into the desk, penetrating the plastic material. With a satisfied howl, the being backed out of the room and sprinted down the dark corridor.

Shinji raised his eyes barely above the desk to scan the area. After analyzing the hallway, he assured himself that they had indeed left. He stood up and sighed a breath and inhaled deeply. Shinji gagged and instantaneously clapped his hands around his nose to block out the horrible stench. However, the only way out was to go through the corpses. Grudgingly, he walked out of the room into the dark corridor. He tried feeling around to get his bearings, but he couldn't help but trip over the dead bodies. He tried searching the soldiers' packs for something useful to illuminate the corridor. Finally he found five flares on an unfortunate Corporal whose head was disfigured from a blow to the head. Fumbling with the fuse, Shinji burnt his hand while trying to light the flare. Immediatley, he wished he kept walking in the dark. He saw all the remnants of the soldiers and the beings, disfigured into horrifying and obscure shapes. Some had their stomachs ripped open, others died with a clean bullet to head. Sickened by the corpses, Shinji puked what little was left in his stomach.

"Disgusting," said a voice from the blackness of the hallways. Shinji snapped his body around towards the noise, but he couldn't make out anyone, even with the bright green flare illuminate the surrounding area. "Clean your mouth boy! There are still pieces of half-digested food on it." Shinji snapped around the other way, his brow drenched with sweat. "How could you be disgusted by such a trivial mess, Shinji Ikari, 3rd Child and pilot of the biomechanical being known as the Evangelion Unit 01? I know you've seen much worse than this." A shiver ran up Shinji's spine as he heard those words. How would some random person know who he was and what he did? He thought NERV was dead after 3rd Impact. "Methinks you are wondering why I know so much about you Shinji Ikari, correct? However, you cannot comprehend how much of a celebrity you are in my line of work. I know practically everything there is to know about you leading up to the exact date of 3rd Impact." The voice paused and Shinji could hear footsteps echoing from down the hallway. Cautiously Shinji, walked towards the door again, hoping to lose the voice. Laughing the voice called out to Shinji again. "You do not seriously think you can leave me, can you? Honestly, there's no where you can go where I cannot follow."

Shinji bolted for the door, slamming it once he entered the room. Frantically, he looked for an air duct in the office. Espying one, he kicked the flimsy metal frame in and crawled inside. Inside the duct there was barely enough room to move his limbs, but he knew that every duct lead to the main generator room which powered the air circulation. He pushed himself along the narrow airway as fast as he could. However, he couldn't keep up the pace forever, and tried to rest a while. The dust that had collected in the absence of a working air conditioner made that extremely hard for him to relax.

"Shinji! Oh Shinji! I seem to have lost my little pilot, wherever could he be." Shinji tried to assure himself that the voice was just toying with him, nothing more and he continued to push along. "Wouldn't that be a shame if you figured out all too late the rotors on the air conditioning would suddenly start working upon your return? That would be quite a shame if you met that sticky, unfortunate end. What a way to go for such a brave pilot!" Shinji was starting to take voice seriously after he heard that. What if the rotors started working? He would either be chopped into pieces or he would have to go back. Fighting his instincts telling him to go back, Shinji kept inching his way into the dark abyss.

After a half hour of inching his way through the narrow air duct, Shinji found that his fear were unfounded. The rotors below him were still and he could make his way across the narrow walkway. Also, he was relived that he had not heard the voice in some time. Grateful, he walked down the narrow path leading to the exit.

"For someone of your experience Ikari, you certainly are gullible" said the voice from behind him. Cursing himself for being so stupid, Shinji knew he should've seen this coming. It happened in movies all the time and it happened to him just as often. Slowly, he turned around to face the being.

The figure held a polished, wooden cane which the figure didn't seem to need, but was exquisitely crafted. Save for the solid, icy blue tie the figure dressed in all black from its double breasted suit to its slacks. Its angular face was held cold, gray eyes which gave away no emotion whatsoever and the light hair was slicked back and dangled at an odd length which made it impossible to discern the figure's sex. Nevertheless, the figure was imposing indeed, towering over Shinji, smiling at Shinji's fear.

"Oh come now, do I really look that freighting? I am only human, like you." Its voice was soft, if only to throw Shinji off, because it was dripping with sarcasm.

"Who…what are you?" Shinji stammered.

"Me? I am a merely a traveler who wanted to meet you and because of a package I must deliver to you."

"You didn't answer me."

"I am a messenger from the old world order, sent to keep an eye out on their investment, so that their wishes will be carried out."

"What investment?"

"I am glad you asked Shinji Ikari, for the investment is you."

"What do you mean?"

"Shinji," sighed the being "I wish you wouldn't ask so many questions, however I will indulge you. I am both a generous god and a vengeful daemon, but for you in particular…." The figure paused and took out a pair of half-moon glasses from his jacket and glanced at Shinji. "…for you in particular, I must obey the orders set out by my masters and make sure you are to be unscathed. Therefore, we shall talk about you in a more suitable area." He tapped his cane against the metal walkway. Its sound echoed louder than it should normally, becoming increasing louder, until the sound became unbearable for Shinji. Finally, the noise stopped altogether, but a black spot appeared in center of the roof, growing exponentially by the minute. It spawned an inky, black substance which slowly dripped down the walls. It spread to the walkway and raced oozed towards Shinji melting the walkway. Frieghtened, Shinji ran towards the figure but the ooze travailed under the figure's feet, now racing towards Shinji. It clamped onto his foot and slowly traveled upwards. He tried brushing it off with his hands, but it clamped onto his hands and continued to overtake him." You know Shinji," smirked the figure "an early 20th century American writer once wrote something that would apply to your predicament. Would you like to hear it?" Shinji started to panic and tried to move, but the ooze had infiltrated his spine, rendering his muscles useless. "Fear is what drives mankind." Shinji could feel the thick ooze penetrating his mouth and nose, making it impossible to breathe. "Fear of the unknown is the most apparent of these fears." He tried closing his eyes, to try and stop the advancing ooze, but it continued to travel through, assimilating Shinji into the darkness Shinji began to hyperventilate and finally blacked out from the lack of oxygen.

The figure walked over to Shinji's body now completely covered in the ooze and sighed. "I am sorry Shinji, but it was necessary. You must learn your destiny, one way or another milord."

"Everyone clear?" bellowed Sergeant Hayes.

"West corridor clear."

"No one coming from the east corridor."

"All squads fall back into the command center now!" yelled the barrel chested Lieutenant Fairfax "Hayes! Elric! Take your support gunners and place them in a fortified position in the hallways." Elric motioned to his support gunner to take a position, while Hayes barked at his. The platoon had found the command center by pure luck while running blindly in NERV's long and monotonous hallways. It was nothing short of a God-send for the platoon. Not only did it house the supercomputers which held all of the information they wanted, but the design was so good from a military stand point, so that any intruder would have an extremely hard time taking it. The main hub was raised above the secondary entrances, giving the defender the high ground. Before even attacking, any intruder would be forced into a narrow hallway making numbers count for nothing. Exploiting this, the platoon split their four squads to guard at the entrances, two for the main elevator entrance and one squad each for the secondary entrances.

Asuka and Toji were up in the main hub receiving medical attention for the platoon's medic, Navy Corpsman Shaun Morrison, who happened to live in Japan prior to 2nd Impact, so he was the only one in the platoon who could speak Japanese.

"So you two alright?" asked the Corpsman.

"I am and I'm sure Asuka is." Answered Toji, while motioning towards Asuka.

"Right then," the doctor said as he glared into Toji's eyes "don't get shot now." Toji raised an eyebrow quizzically at the Corpsman. "Don't worry about it," Shaun laughed "I'm just screwing with you." Shaun picked up his gear and took the elevator down to the lower level. The Corpsman held a certain black humor that made even the most jovial of people squirm. On top of that, no one in the platoon really knew what he did or where he came from, partly because he changed the story around so many times. One day he was a cook's son who lived in Los Angeles at the time of the riots and helped his dad ward off looters with guns they stole from Wal-Mart. Another time he was a bassist in a band that was about to hit it big and then Second Impact happened.

"I see you've met our good doctor, Shaun Morrison." Chuckled Vincent.

"He's cheerful." Retorted Asuka.

"Not really," replied Vincent "that's just his way of greeting people. Once you get to know him, he's really just a serious guy who cares about his squad mates. But, in the mean time you're going to have to learn to deal with him because he's the only one here who speaks Japanese." Asuka snarled and blew up her hair. Vincent could only reply with an innocent shrug.

"Elric!" Yelled Lieutenant Fairfax. "Get your squad for a patrol."

"Yes sir." Replied the Sergeant grudgingly as he motioned to his squad to follow him. "I'll be back soon." He whispered to the children. "Just relax, you'll be safe here.' He then tossled both their hair like a brother would do to a sibling.

"About damn time Elric! Take your squad and search for any survivors at the encounter site. Bring any live ones back and tag and bag any dead ones." Elric gave a quick salute and puckered his lips toward the Lieutenant. Fuming, Fairfax threw an empty clip at the Sergeant while yelling "You insubordinate Son of a bitch! When you get back, I'm going to court-martial your ass!"

Smiling, Asuka turned towards Toji. "He reminds me of you." She chuckled softly.

"Oh, I might yell at people, but I wouldn't throw stuff at them." Smiled Toji. They both laughed together, if only for a little while. But to them, it was the funniest thing they had heard of in days. Finally settling down, Asuka faced Toji.

"Toji?" asked Asuka as she propped herself up against a desk.

"Yeah Asuka? What is it?"

"How've you been?"

"That's an odd question, how've you been."

"Well I mean…"

"After all this?" Toji interrupted

"Yeah."

"I don't know really. It seems odd that I would stuck here with you and there would be these thing attacking us for no reason at all and Shinji's off somewhere."

"But there must've been plenty of times when you wanted it to end right? I mean your legs are gone, you're being hunted and no one seems to notice! What keeps you going?"

"To be honest, it's one reason: I want my sister to be proud of me, that I didn't chicken out kill myself."

"That's your only reason?"

"Well yeah." Toji answered. Asuka was now staring at the ceiling, looking like she hadn't a care in the world. "Is that everything you wanted to ask Asuka?"

"There is one more thing; I did want to ask you." She paused for a moment and sighing. "Toji, about you and Hikari, did you two do anything special before all of this?"

"We had lunch together on top of the school."

"That's it?"

"Well, I wasn't able to see her after I was…handicapped."

"But if you could," persisted Asuka "would you have done something together?"

"I don't know," replied Toji "probably the same thing." He began to tilt his head toward Asuka, asking "Why do you want to?" Pausing for a moment, Asuka, in her nervousness, bit her lip.

"I think…I'm falling for Shinji."

"Come again Asuka?"

"I'm falling for Shinji."

"Shinji? Come on Asuka! I know you two have your differences, but…why him?"

"I don't know" said Asuka shrugging "it's just the way he is."

Rubbing his nose, Toji thought for a moment as he looked at Asuka in disbelief. An awkward silence passed between the two of them for the longest time, until Toji broke the silence. "Did something happen between you two?"

"Gross!" squealed Asuka "It's not like that. Mien Gott in Himmel! Just for get about it." Fuming, she turned away from Toji, mumbling to herself as she went. She bashed the control console for the elevator and went down to the MAGI level. Sighing, she hit her against Caspar, only to slide down to the metal floor. "…Stupid Toji!" she muttered "Why does he have to ask that? 'Why do you like him?' because I do asshole!"

"Is this a bad time Asuka?"

"Who the hel..." Asuka shot up from where she sat with her hand raised, ready to slap anyone that came near her. But she only saw a weak smiling Sergeant.

"Is this a bad time? He repeated

"No," said Asuka half-heartedly. She was still infuriated from her conversation with Toji, but was embarrassed at the same time. "It's not your fault at all. I'm sorry about that outburst, I was just thinking, about something."

"It's all right, I get that from women all the time!" joked Cester. Laughing at his own joke, he didn't notice Asuka glaring at him until she punched him in the ribs. "Aw…hell…you've got quite an arm there. Ever thought about being a boxer?"

"You're the second person to tell me that."

"Anyways, I thought you'd be hungry. Here, take these." Cester took some MRE packets out his breast pocket that read "Hamburger Steak and Mashed Potatoes with Toaster Pastry." Handing them to Asuka, Cester pointed to the instructions "Just follow these and you'll have a hot meal. Unfortuanatley, the food's a little dry. He produced a bottle of water from his bandolier and handed Asuka a powdered Gatorade packet. "This'll offset this dryness a bit, but the food will still be pretty chewy."

"Thanks a lot…er, what was your name again?"

"Oh, it's Sergeant Marvin Cester, and your name would be….Asuka Langley Soryu if I'm not mistakened."

"You've got it." Cester began to walk towards the elevator, until Asuka called out "Wait! Cester!"

"Yes Asuka."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Eh, to be honest, it's all Elric's doing. He's got in his head that he must take care of you. But, we've been mates for a while, so I'll support him. That and no one was giving you any food."

"I'm fine without it." Cester was taken aback by Asuka's statement, but he grudgingly understood why.

"No, believe me Asuka; you will need your strength." He then turned away from Asuka and walked toward the lift. However, Asuka was thinking about what Marvin had said and she finally realized what he meant.

"Has there been any word from Vincent! Has he found Shinji!" yelled Asuka.

"No, but if it's the Vincent I know." Cester said looking back at Asuka. "He will. That's how he found me."

A warm and familiar liquid seeped through Shinji's eyelids. Slowly and cautiously, he opened his eyes and wished he didn't. To his horror, he was in the very cloning vat that copied Rei into the dummy plugs. He pressed his hands against the glass trying to find a way out. He then threw his fists and legs against the barrier, but to no avail. Shinji thrust his head against the glass against the frame until his forehead bled.

"You know," murmured the voice "blood does not coagulate well in liquid. And that LCL is a month old, who knows what is swimming in there with you?" Shinji continued to bang his head against the glass. He tried to yell, but only bubbles could come out. He could taste the blood though; the figure not lying about the LCL at least. "There's a reason why I chose this particular place. It saves me all the trouble of having to answer any of your insipid questions." Shinji threw his shoulder against the glass, making a faint crack in the frame. "Although," it paused "you rarely stay still regardless of where you are. Anyways, it is time you knew who I was." The figure parted its blonde hair, revealing its androgynous face. "My name is Alex Kiel, daughter of the late Lorenz Kiel. I am the brainchild of the greatest minds of the former Soviet Union when they were developing test-tube technology and fusing it with controlled breeding. In other words, myself and eleven others are called "Sentients," humans with psychic abilities beyond that of any mortal man. I, for example, have control over time and space and I can transport anything or anyone with a mere thought. Ergo, I am the messenger in our family."

Pausing, Alex pointed to the adjoining cloning vats and caressed like one would touch a child."These," Alex mused "all of NERV, the Evangelions, the Angels, and even the pilots were all instrumental to the joyous, climactic ending: Third Impact. As humanity shed off their shells, a new age dawned for evolution! But my father, being the cautious fool he was, knew there would be a few blind ones; those not wanting to join the collective. And for that, a backup plan was devised; a person would be trained to hate humanity so much that he would ultimately lead them to their destruction. And that person, the dark messiah of humanity, is you, Shinji Ikari!

Shinji mouth sank and his eyes began to well up with tears. All this life, he was being used. If not by his father, then by NERV and now, this Alex! He barred his teeth, and lashed out against the glass, bruising himself severely. Alex noticed Shinji's realization, but she continued to smile.

"Rejoice!" she shouted in religious ecstasy "You are the Dark Messiah! The one who will bring all the Horsemen of the Apocalypse on the humans! The one who will lead humanity to its final purpose: DESTRUCTION!"

Shinji slid down the LCL tube, not wanting to hear another word from the cursed woman's lips. This had to be an act, it just couldn't be him! It was only some lunatic who had the wrong person.

"Shinji," the woman said in calming voice "do not fear of what you have become. You must first bring the fire to humanity's slavers; the one's who call themselves the Veritas. They would enslave humanity to their own devices and twist them away from the true path. Bring a swift and painful death unto those degenerates!" Alex, then swiftly turned around, hearing a noise from down the hall. "Milord, I must not tarry here, for our enemies gather. However, before I go, I bestow upon you the language of the degenerates. Use it against them well, and I must bid you farewell." Alex then turned ninety degrees and swiftly walked out of the room, leaving Shinji to his own devices. In a fury, he threw himself against the barrier nonstop, not caring how he was hurting his body.

In the distance, a computer spat to life, whirling and whispering in a unisex, mechanical voice "Subject…di, di, displaying aggressive be, be, be, be, beeeeeehavior. Purging LCL and o, o, o, opening locks. Sending security and medical, cal, cal teams."

The metal locks clicked open as the LCL drained from the tube. Hurriedly, Shinji threw himself against the glass, shattering the cracked glass, sending shards in every direction. Consequently, he fell onto the glass and could feel the millions of shards ripping into his flesh. To weak to move, Shinji closed his eyes as he fell unconscious. Before he blacked out, he could faintly hear shouts coming from a nearby hall.

Author's Note: Thanks to you dudes and dudettes who are reading "Exiled." Even though, I may not update as frequently as others, at least I know people will read. I hope you enjoyed this installment and now...GO REVIEW P


	12. Season Song

All around him was blank

Disclaimer: Yep, the story (as well as the author) is back from the crypt ready to wreak havoc upon the fan fiction boards once again. It's been a while ladies and germs, and I cut out a lot, switched some stuff, and added some hit somewhat haphazardly. So buckle your seat belts twerps and jerks, the next few chapters are going to be fun. And with school dead, I might actually have some time to write them.

All around him was blank.

White.

Pure.

Clean.

Neutral.

Safe.

And he was naked.

Regardless of what was around him, Shinji still felt vulnerable. As he glanced at his surroundings, or lack of them, he noticed a door with blinding light blazing from it. He shielded his eyes from the ubpurpt light, as it intensified when a figure walked towards him.

"Shinji?"

He tried to look towards the light, but no attempt to reply. Again the figure continued to walk closer.

"Shinji? Why won't you answer?"

The figure was so close, that he could feel its breath caressing his face. He wanted to look at the voice, but the light was so blinding that even while closing his eyes, the light still hurt him. Shinji tried to step away, but the figure embraced him gently. Falling into the arms of the figure, she embraced Shinji close to her chest.

"I'm sorry Shinji, I've been away for too far too long, haven't I?"

Shinji wanted to respond, but he did not know who to respond to. Like a baby, he tried to feel his way around the figure. He made out shoulders, arms, short hair, and a face. As he pulled his hands away from the woman, she touched his eyes, whispering into his ear.

"Why won't you open your eyes Shinji?"

Responding to the voice he tried to open his eyelids, but they would not respond. Straining, his face swirled into a frustrated look. No matter how hard he tried, Shinji could not open his eyes. Yelling, he tried to pry open his eyes with his hands, but to no avail. Crying, Shinji collapsed onto the floor in despair. The figure quickly embraced him as Shinji used his hands to feel her face. Cooing to the injured boy, she embraced him tightly.

"You used to the same thing when you were a baby."

He looked up in surprise. This figure could not be his mother. She was dead, wasn't she? Frantically, he grasped her face, and "looked" straight at her.

"Mom, why can't I see?" Sadly smiling, Yui replied,

"You have always been able to see; it's just that you've never wanted to open your eyes Shinji."

Shinji, repeated into his mother's face the same question, until he lost himself in the question. Yui held him tighter still, calmly whispering to her son,

"Shinji; there's no need to see when I'm right here."

"But Mom, I want to see you! I want to see you! Why can't I see you?"

Suddenly, he could open his eyes, but his mother was gone. Rubbing his eyes, he found himself fully clothed again and in his old room at Misato's house. Everything was there, just as he left it before Third Impact from his cassette player, posters and bed. He straightened up in his bed and laid his head on the pillow. Sighing, he looked up the ceiling and began to relax now that he was back in familiar territory.

Just as he was taking off his socks, the door opened. Asuka walked in the doorway wearing her uniform, smiling as she shut the door behind her. Shinji, propped himself up on his arms. She slowly walked over to Shinji, smiling as she began to slip off her uniform.

"What are you doing Asuka?" Shinji said as she began to slowly unbutton her blouse. He suddenly began to get nervous as she crawled towards him on the bed.

"What's the matter idiot? I thought you would love the fact that you would be seeing me like this."

"It's not that I don't like it Asuka," Shinji stammered as Asuka went ahead with unbuttoning his pants. "It's…why are you doing this?"

"C'mon idiot, do you really need to ask that question." She stopped unbuttoning and looked at him. "Have you ever read any _Carpe Diem _before Shinji?" He gave a shake of his head in ignorance. "Well, they were all about seizing the day." She paused as she ripped off his pants. She kissed him deeply as she slipped out of her blouse. "The world is going to end soon as we know it Shinji. What's a little mischief between us if we are going to die soon?"

Immediately something clicked into Shinji's head as his hands reached out towards Asuka's bra. Shaking and the warmth drained from his fingers, he fumbled with the notches. Shinji grabbed the back of Asuka's bra and flung it off her skinny body. Smiling, she unbuttoned his shirt as his fondled her breasts. His shirt half off, Shinji thrust Asuka to the pillow. Breathing heavily, he tried reaching for Asuka's red panties emerging from her silky, white thighs hiding in her green skirt. Time seemed to stop for him as he slowly reached up her leg. Halfway, Asuka looked at him, eyes trusting and sensual, placed her hand over his hand and helped him to find his way.

"It's alright Shinji," Asuka whispered into his ear, "don't be afraid." Mouth trembling, he felt his way to her panties as both their hands slipped them off. Shinji locked his gaze into Asuka's eyes and collapsed into her breasts. She embraced his head and Shinji relaxed in her warm embrace.

"I'm sorry Shinji." Shinji looked up at her, her face distorted in a bittersweet smile. Puzzled, he tried to kiss her, but she only pushed him away. She slipped her hands around his face, caressing his every feature. Asuka looked directly at him at kissed him lightly. "This is the way," she whispered into his ear "the world ends."

Suddenly, he was yanked from his bed and pulled across the dark realm of space to distant stars and gargantuan planets. Red, green, and blue lights danced across his brow as he plowed through the heavens. Through the vast vacuum, he finally stopped at his old Evangelion, drifting aimlessly through space. Sitting on its horned head, Gendo Ikari stared out into the bleakness of space.

"Did I interrupt you and the Soryu girl?" he asked smugly not even glancing at Shinji.

"That girl's name is Asuka Langley Soryu father!" Shinji shouted back at his father. He pushed himself into the Evangelion's hull towards his father, yet he would not budge.

"You know, when I first met your mother." Gendo began coolly "we had a relationship just like yourself and the Soryu girl." Pausing, Gendo turned slightly towards Shinji, barely acknowledging Shinji's existence. "It was brief and passionate, but Shinji, it never lasted long."

"You're a bastard…father." The words felt forced, because he knew his father was dead, and he could only curse the idea. As his tears welled up in his eyes and floated away into space, Shinji cursed at himself for not thinking of better words. No; there weren't any words to describe his hatred. His fists clenched, as he inched towards his father, taking in every detail on his father's clothes. They still were intact, pressed, neat, and too goddamn perfect. "You never cared for me, or Mom. You only used Mom and I. And for what! You're dead and your perfect world died with it!"

Chuckling, Gendo stood up on the skull of the Evangelion and turned towards Shinji, his body outlined by an incoming sun, casting a shadow upon Shinji. When Shinji's eyes adjusted, they froze shut at the sight of Gendo's face. His face resembled a skull, with the skull stretched taught over the outline. His retinas had exploded in the vacuum, now dangling next to his nose still pumping out blood, which floated aimlessly in space and bouncing off Gendo's skin. His teeth were gone, leaving only gums and open blood vessels.

"Take a good look Shinji." Gendo said coolly "The monster I am has finally come outside my shell! I have done things you would think irrational or evil, but let me tell you something Shinji! Your bitch of a mother could not even keep up with my demands. As soon as I had enough information from her sources, I disposed of her. In turn, she killed herself with you watching! She had nothing to live for anymore, not even her own son!"

"SHUT UP!"Shinji looked up in rage at his father, who had not even showed any emotion during his rant; he hated him, dearly. He pushed of the hull towards his father, fists at the ready. Gendo did not even lift a finger to stop his son and let Shinji push him off. Floating free of any restraints, Gendo drifted off in the direction of a nearby star, but yelled out a few words of advice.

"Shinji! It's only a matter of time before you use her too!" The rest was drowned out as Gendo turned into vapor.

"Good job, milord." Shinji jumped to the side, as he found himself in a vast, 20th century library. Sitting at the end of a long oak table, Alex fixed her eyes upon Shinji. "What a marvelous labyrinth your mind is! You have the sexual desires of any boy your age and you seem to display negativity towards your father, but such thoughts towards your mother…they are almost unheard of. However, examining you was been quite the honor Shinji Ikari! I must say despite your outward appearance, you do have a lot of deep and dark thoughts roaming through the corridors of your mind."

"I was used, by you…again!"

"I need to know all about you Shinji, if I am to better serve you milord. That means I am perfectly within my jurisdiction to see how you would react to certain things."

"Then what about Asuka? What did she mean by how the world ends?"

"Hm, I suppose I could indulge you." Alex replied coolly. She shifted her jacket to the side and crossed her legs. Like a vulture staring down a corpse, she looked at Shinji intently. "I suppose you have been through a lot and no boy your age could handle your extremities and come out of it looking the same. All the same, regardless of your mental condition or not, humanity needs you Shinji Ikari. We stand upon the precipice of a new dawn for humanity. The 'end of the world' as your friend Asuka speaks of it, is only the new beginning."

"And what will happen in this 'dawn'?"

"NERV's work will be completed." Alex replied with her eyes locked into Shinji's "The end of humanity as a fractured unit will cease to exist, and the humans will become one. No sex, no ideological differences, no right or wrong, just the will of the entire human consciousness poured into one single entity."

"So that's why you want me! Just to be used again! I won't; I swear to you I won't!" Without a second thought, Shinji leapt on the table and charged towards Alex. Coolly, she stood up and outstretched her arm. Suddenly, Shinji stopped and the two of them were flung into a vacuum in space. Shinji, having no gravity or oxygen, plummeted through the darkness, gasping for air on his descent into the abyss. Floating above him was Alex wearing a stern look on her face, wearing an oxygen mask.

"I think you have seen enough" she whispered in his skull. "I bid you adieu, milord. Hopefully our next encounter will be less…complicated." Before he could protest, Shinji blacked out and disappeared into the inky blackness.

Sighing, Alex landed upon terra firma; a silent plateau, which once held NERV's rockets and VTOL bays, now it was a wounded warrior forced to stand witness to the changing times. She glanced over her robed shoulder at an immense figure coming towards her.

"Ho there Initiate."

"You're late Victor." Her words would have pierced the thickest hide, but the man seemed to shrug them off. He was a tall African who talked and walked with a youthful gait and had a young face and sunglasses perched neatly on his nose bridge. Despite a few wrinkles which gave away his age, and he wore a simple, unbuttoned blazer with a simple dress shirt and slacks to match. Compared to Alex, the man could have just been another kindly, laidback gentleman, who still knew how to dress with the times.

"You'll be happy to know that the Veritas have what they came for. They have informed me that they will be departing soon for their territory in the Middle East."

"You still have not told me why you were late Victor." Alex turned full circle to see Victor face to face, with her piercing blue eyes fixed on him.

"Cool it Alex, I've got my reasons. I was caught up with in a firefight with the humans. Apparently, the Veritas needed my help to translate with their subject. The little human was a former EVA pilot if you could believe it."

"I wish I could deny that. I do not understand your love for the Veritas. They are as much brutes as the humans are, and twice as idealistic. Besides, they reek."

"Alex, Alex, Alex." Victor walked beside Alex and leaned over the guard rail. Laughing, he glanced up at Alex and grinned. "Maybe you should take a good hard look at yourself. 'Take the log out of your eye before you tell your friend about his.' Could it be quite possible that you are the idealistic one? I mean we are effectively committing genocide on now two races in order to create a supreme being. When it was just the humans, it was fine, but now with the Veritas added into the mix, I feel we should leave them alone."

"You seriously think that we, the caretakers, are going to stop everything for a band of upstart humanoids and the remnants of a decadent society? Where is you loyalty Victor?"

"I don't question my orders, and as of now my orders are not for genocide." Victor took a pack of cigarettes out of pocket and lit one up with an ancient lighter. As he took a whiff of the tobacco, he sighed. "Besides, where am I going to get these things when the humans are dead?"

"Put out that cigarette now." Victor took another whiff and exhaled slowly in little puffs and the smoke formed faint halos around Alex.

"The higher-ups decided that we need to move. Let the humans regroup, have some babies, and see what happens. From here on out, you and I, as well as the other ten are on standby." Alex did a little shuffle her feet and gripped her cane as a child holds a blanket.

"What caused the change of plans?"

"The girl the Veritas picked up here. Apparently, her DNA was kept in cold storage and there was only one body in cold storage for immediate dust off. All her memories are intact, but she kept on muttering something about being the fourth. From what command told me, the girl is extremely important to them."

"What about us?"

"We leave. Eva's already prepped my chopper for take off."

From what seemed like the hundredth time, Shinji was waking up from being knocked out. Half delirious, his eyes flickered in and out light and darkness. He heard the thumping of artillery and falling of bullet casings and staggered out of the clearing. He was outside the complex and in the watermelon patch, so at least for the time being, he was somewhat safe.

There was whistling and a mortar shell landed only yards away from his feet, catapulting him into the air. Shinji landed on the watermelons, splitting them wide open, the red juice dripping from his skin. His vision was cloudy and his hearing dropped in and out of deafness. Crawling to his feet, Shinji reached a nearby tree to lean on. He had found out that his clothes were torn in some places, but either than that he was physically fine.

Shinji inched away from the tree, barely recognizing where he was. The Australian strike force had totally obliterated the landscape with their laser guided surgical strikes, artillery shells, and grenades. The trees were on fire, others were charred black; reminders of an earlier time. Shinji could barely make out the Veritas as they jumped from tree to tree, leaving only an outline of themselves behind. They brandished their weapons and let out shrill war cries as they descended upon the strike force. It was then Shinji realized that the strike force was losing. He needed to find Vincent.

In the distance, a Veritas spotted Shinji in the distance. As it readied its crude spear, a fellow Veritas spoke in a hushed voice to the other.

"Brother, there is no honor in killing a defenseless _sas-ui-mau-chin_. Let him run." The Veritas lowered his spear, by only a few degrees and aimed it at a soldier coming towards the boy.

"Shinji!" Shinji turned to face the source of the voice, but his vision was still clouded. "Shinji! Come over here! Walk straight!" Groping into the smoke, Shinji inched his way forward, until he could make out a tall figure, holding what seemed to be a rifle.

Sergeant Cester ran to get Shinji after he started stumble a bit. He could see Shinji's blood stained shirt and there was a suspicious dark red spot coming from his side. He motioned to his comm. officer to report to an immediate MEDEVAC VTOL to pick them up on the double. Cester ditch most of his gear save for his armor and a sidearm as he ran to meet up with Shinji.

Shinji started to feel numb, his consciousness slowly and painfully drifting away from him. Each second further into the blackness was another second of pain. He tried to call for help, but his speech became muffled and slurred. Collapsing on all fours, he could only reach out a hand to the figure until he blacked out.

Cester arrived a few seconds after Shinji collapsed. After turning him over on his side, he realized the Shinji was bleeding profusely. It didn't look like any arteries were hit and Shinji was still breathing, but he had lost more blood than he should have. Cester waved for his medic to come over, as he applied pressure to the wound.

The medic hovered over Shinji, bandaging up the laceration and placing him on a stretcher. But as they were about to move Shinji, a spear came whistling from out of the smoke and went straight through Cester's right bicep.

Screaming in pain, Cester dropped the stretcher and quickly surveyed the area to find where the spear came from. A private under his command took his place, as Cester took out his pistol and surveyed the rear. He cursed under his breath as he raised the pistol with his shaking hand.

The four ran to a series fortified foxhole, quickly thrown together to hold the squad's position. Shinji, the medic, and the private made it in and Cester was almost in when a corporal screamed at Cester. Turning his head, Cester raised his pistol towards an oncoming Veritas. Spear at hand, the beast charged Cester, launching him into the air. Grimacing in pain, Cester took out his knife with his good arm and hurled it and the Veritas.

Howling in pain, the beast took out the knife out of its hide. "Smiling" it turned its head to Cester who armed himself sharpened stick, gripping the wooden toy as if his life depended on it. "Laughing" the creature launched itself at Cester, swiping at the sergeant, but Cester was fast for a human. He still remembered how he used to fight in the camps for food, using whatever weapon he could fashion against outstanding odds; he was used to this kind of fight. He swung the stick at the beast's legs; a delicate, but deadly dance of capoeira, judo, and savate Cester learned fighting after the second impact. Impressed the creature threw away its spear and let out a menacing growl. Unfazed, Cester tossed aside his toy and dropped into a sparring position. The Veritas dangled its arms, as if daring Cester took attack. Instead, Cester ripped off his sleeve and used it as a tourniquet for his arm. The Veritas just stared, amused by the human's care for his arm, so unbecoming of a warrior.

Cester sped towards his opponent and caught the Veritas off guard. Cester grabbed an arm, pushing it up and forcing the joint to dislocate. Cester pushed the creature off, but was caught off guard with the relative ease of his victory. Not to be outdone, the Veritas popped its joint back into its socket with a sickening pop. The Veritas threw one of its arms towards Cester, landing on his bicep. The blow had bruised it, but it was not broken. Smiling, Cester no knew that the monster wasn't as strong as it claimed to be. Taking advantage of the creature's size, Cester hooked his right leg on a spare leg and pushed the beast down. Once down, he pummeled the beast with his fists and elbows and finally splitting the Veritas head with its forehead. But Cester forgot about the free arms, as the Vertias pushed off Cester, sending him on his back.

"Fire, goddamn you…" Cester shouted to his troops, dumbstruck by the fight. Finally one of the corporals gave the order to fire. The Veritas danced as it was riddled with smoking bullets and a few grenades. Once the firing ceased, Cester got on his feet, and grabbed his knife from the ground. The Veritas breaths were shallow and its blood painted the ground a deep red. Cester turned his attention to an incoming VTOL and motioned his men to throw out a flare. He stared out at his men piling into the VTOL and then glanced at the dying Veritas.

"You see that?" Cester muttered to the Veritas "My men and I are leaving this godforsaken place. I wish I could say the same of your kind." He drove the knife deep into the Veritas' skull as it spurted blood and cerebrospinal fluids. But the Veritas did not cry out, it just remained there with the knife in its head, contemplating the afterlife. "Rot in hell." Cester walked away from the dying creature and leaped into the VTOL.

As the VTOL took off, Cester could make out the retreating Veritas running into the bunkers. Maybe they weren't so stupid after all. He glanced at Asuka, who had arrived with Vincent's squad long before Cester and Shinji were picked up.

"Are you okay Cester?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah," smiling Cester turned towards Asuka and showed him his arm "I'm fine. Wish I could say the same for Shinji; he's in a worse state than I am. Rightfully so, my squad was sent to go look for him after he disappeared from the LCL chamber. I guess some Veritas moved him through the ducts, but I don't know why they wouldn't keep him. Bunch of fucking nut jobs if you ask me."

Ignoring Cester, Asuka turned her attention to Shinji who was breathing softly in his stretcher. She caressed his face and brushed a kiss on his bloody lips. Kissing a familiar face gave her a little relief after the battle that took place. She took his hand and grasped it tight as she locked herself in the seat next to him.

Cester took one last look over Tokyo-3's setting sun. He took in its blood red, bright yellow, royal purple and deep navy as it clashed together in the evening sky. He tried to forget the battle, but the colors brought him back to the battlefield. Vincent came from behind him and stared out into the same setting sun.

"Amazing isn't it Cester?" Vincent asked.

"That we got out of there alive?"

"No, the sunset. We didn't lose that many men…well at least as many as we expected."

"How many?"

"Fifteen percent loss in the battalion."

"Christ Almighty, it's going to take too long to rebuild that."

"Yeah, too long." Vincent got up and put his hand on Cester "Find yourself a seat Cester, there's a carrier waiting to take us home."

"Alright."

"This is strike team Busy Child from the carrier _Over the Rainbow_. We are starting out attack run on Tokyo-3. Turn your heads gentleman this one is going to be bright."

"Roger that. Thermo-nukes armed and ready sir, awaiting your orders."

"Blow that mother fucking city out of the sky son."


	13. Werid Fishes

Author's Note: I do not own Evangelion, I just write this fanfic and all that legal jazz

Author's Note: I do not own Evangelion, I just write this fanfic and all that legal jazz. Well, I've come back to resurrect "Exiled" from the stygian depths of Hades. Hopefully I'll actually get this story done and over with. How the hell is a lazy kid like me going off to college when he can't even update his own fanfic? Anywho, just for continuity purposes let me get one thing straight: this is set MUCH later after the events of the first twelve chapters. I'll reveal more tidbits along the way and hopefully tie up all the loose ends by the end. For now, sit back in your chair, grab a soda, throw some popcorn in the microwave, and kick your feet up.

The whirl of the UH-60's twin rotors roared to life in the desolate Afghan mountains, sending native birds into a panic in the deep red sunset. The lone squad looked on the sparsely populated base longingly; it was the last human base in the contested regions.

"Dante 3, this is base Kite Runner, over."

"Roger Base Runner, we are reading you over the channels clearly." The young pilot, who had been brought up the post 3I world, was still fumbling with the helicopter's controls. Due to a lack of supplies, the military trained pilots in extensive VR training, but that did nothing prepare the Post 3I pilots for the real thing.

"Dante 3, our Auroras have cleared the path for your team. The Hawk should have no trouble getting to the designated target LZ."

"Roger that command," the nervous pilot said, his sweaty palms getting used to the old bird "this should be a piece of cake."

The old UH-60 Black Hawk had seen better days. Running on watered down fuel and refurbished parts, this old thing was at frontlines of the war. The Black Hawk was just one of many technologies, some donated, scavenged, and others stolen, humanity had adapted to benefit them. The military arm of humanity was nothing more than a patchwork quilt of technologies, strategies, and people. It was nothing short of a miracle that humanity had lasted this long.

After 3I, some countries managed to keep together throughout the affair, because the only fallout was from humanity. Numerous countries fell to internal strife and civil war in the ensuing days. Little did those people know that humanity had been reduced to over a billion people in a day. The hardest hit were the Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and, surprisingly enough, American countries. After a month of strife, the G8 countries, save for Japan, whose population was completely obliterated, disbanded the UN and formed the decidedly more militaristic Human Protectorate.

The first Protectorate countries, the remaining G8, openly embraced an oligarchy, as the best means of ruling. Each country was split into provinces, each ruled by an arm of the military or a sub-group, depending on the population. The laws in the Protectorate were simple: every man and woman must serve a minimum of 10 years within a military branch starting at age 18 and must raise a minimum of 3 children. Any action, such as rape, murder, stealing, etc. would be met with a military tribunal with two usual outcomes: death or hard labor.

For the first ten years, the Protectorate ruled with an iron fist, but needed to foster the next generation of humanity. Any science that was not related to medicine/human needs or military applications was scrapped. Social services were made free to all citizens of the Protectorate and food was made readily plentiful. Every child was guaranteed a first-rate education and guaranteed job in the armed forces.

But it was a life overshadowed by constant warfare.

In order to combat the alien beings known as the Veritas (as far as the Protectorate is concerned, this statement has and will not been proven), the Protectorate ransacked every known military outside of its own boundaries. No group of people or remaining country was free from the Protectorate's reach. The Outreach 5, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa, were the first countries outside the original seven to be "welcomed" into the Protectorate. Other countries and regions were soon subjugated until Eurasia, North America, the Pacific region, and Southeastern Asia were under the iron fist of the Protectorate.

After the Australian strike force discovered the alien force known as the "Veritas," all involved parties were forced to sign a vow of silence; the Protectorate already had the monumental task of carrying on the torch of human civilization and progress, they did not want to start a panic. The Protectorate government decided to let the Veritas live in peace. Thus, the Protectorate engaged a secret cold war with the Veritas.

Shinji and Asuka were actively involved in the cold war, because of their knowledge regarding the Evangelions capabilities. The Protectorate even resurrected NERV and renamed the laboratory, "RUCKGRAT" in order to study the Veritas and necessary weapons development. From what RUCKGRAT, or GRAT for short, discovered, the Veritas were, in fact, miniaturized Evangelion's, minus the energy field known as the Absolute Terror (AT) field. Instead, the Veritas kept the agility and strength that their former selves had. Even without the AT field, Veritas soldiers far outmatched any normal soldier. As a countermeasure, GRAT developed a prototype drug to enhance a normal human's strength and resilience to pain by combining the active ingredients of PCP, anabolic steroids, and for an added bonus LCL for easier absorption. The drug was still dangerous and the psychological effects were untouched, in fact, GRAT had been working on ways to enhance it. Without even knowing it, Shinji and Asuka were the first test subjects in the project codenamed "MINOTAUR." GRAT had discovered that NERV had used hallucinogenic drugs in their LCL to have their pilots become even more violent when dealing with the Angels. Fortunately for GRAT, the drugs had not dissolved in Shinji's and Asuka's system and they could still access them under stressful circumstances.

Shinji glanced at his glowing wristwatch in the fading day. It monitored his pulse, vital signs, kept a GPS map, compass rose, s stun prod, and 24 hour analog watch. Though, for all of the gadgetry, it was large, cumbersome, and was always too warm for Shinji's liking. "19:26." So far, so good; at least the mission was still on time. It was for strictly recon purposes only, at least he was told that by his superiors. Shinji had his own motives for volunteering for this mission. Ever since joining the Protectorate Defense Force (PDF), he had been fascinated by the Veritas. He was nowhere near the end of his deployment, but he had advanced far through the ranks and even had a starting position at GRAT when he got out of the military, with a better salary than most of the sad sacks in the Protectorate.

Even so, the nightmares kept coming to him. The hellish bloodbaths, the visceral feelings and dismemberment fighting the Angels and Alex swarmed through his head during his restless nights. Worse, they drifted in and out of his consciousness; he would never know when he would have a restful night. He spent his days wondering if he would sleep and his nights contemplating whether something as horrible as those experiences would happen again. But lately, he had a recurring dream of three towers in the middle of the desert. Standing in the desert, surrounded by gardens, industries, and fortresses, they stood unadorned by any defenses, and they welcomed him. He was able to sleep peacefully those nights because the towers felt oddly comforting, like a love that he had not felt in quite sometime.

Then again, Asuka was always there to comfort him on those restless nights. Ever since they reached the refugee camps, they were inseparable. One could say their relationship was not unlike two childhood friends, but also of two lovers. No one had stepped forward with a proposal, they were still shy of each other in that respect, but they were always by each other's side. Asuka had always said that he was nothing without her, because he such an idiot. Shinji always smiled and laughed quietly at Asuka's antics; he knew the same went for her. That didn't stop Shinji from dating others, same went for Asuka. Their dates could never understand why they were so inseparable; some left for that reason.

Rubbing his stubble, Shinji checked his rugged G-36KV. Even though it was PDF issued, he painted a silver cross near the safety. He could care less if they fined him for bad conduct, it was his Misato. The ammo was fine and the AG36 grenade launcher was loaded and ready. His squad members were doing the same thing after seeing the LT check his weapons. They were a mixed bunch of Europeans, three Americans and a guy from Sao Paulo, Brazil, but they all could understand English, save for the occasional curse in Portuguese. Shinji felt pretty good about being in charge of this bunch, or pretty much any time he was in command. It gave him confidence and a somewhat inflated ego, something he sorely needed in real life. Shinji wasn't the same whiny child he was when he fought the Angel's, but he still lacked the confidence most people had. One of his squad mates quipped that he was the epitome of the Byronic Hero minus the brooding. He always smiled whenever someone poked fun at him; he was still immature and shy when it came to being social.

"Listen up ladies and gents," boomed the pilots voice over the loudspeaker. "ETA is five minutes, so pack up all your gear and don't leave any shit laying around. Thank you for flying Air Dante and I hope you fly with us again. There still won't be any peanuts though." A few of the younger soldiers laughed, others looked down at the plateau longingly, and one the Americans threw up. "Aw goddamn it man! I hope you're going to clean that shit up." Blushing bright red, the American scrapped off the vomit with his boot outside the chopper.

"Alright, listen up people!" Shinji boomed, trying to make his voice sound deeper. "Our objective is just to observe and do a little reconnaissance. Nothing more, nothing else, got that? We will be dropped off about 3 kilometers away from our intended target. After about a kilometer we will be linking up with a squad from the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. Any questions?" Nobody raised their hands and did last minute checks on their weapons and equipment.

"Alright boys and girls! We are here at your destination and thank you for flying Air Dante. We hope you come again and not upchuck in our lovely cabin." The troops piled out of the UH-60 and disappeared into the inky, black night.

Asuka and her three squad mates lay prone on the cool desert floor; their camouflage blending in so perfectly into the desert even the scorpions couldn't tell the difference. She watched the hushed city through her G22's scope; it was oh so boring to her, but she had grown to have plenty of patience. There were only Veritas guards making their nightly patrols around the city walls. She was amazed at the sheer magnitude this unfinished city had; for a species that had only existed for a little over two decades. It seemed…unnatural, but the Veritas had a knack for that.

The city reminded her of those antiquated Mesopotamian fortress-cities that she read about in her history classes in Trier. They were made for constant war, or was it for protection? All cities fall in due time; Tokyo-3, the most current one, was a poignant reminder of that. The invincible and mighty city of humanity was not enough to become just a footnote in the march of time. But humanity was still here, despite everything, they still survived.

A call came in through her headset, giving away her position for a slight minute. Silencing it quickly, she switched to her headset, motioning to her companions to take over her position.

"Fremen," said the voice over the radio. "Do you wish to fight with the Atreides clan?"

"Lest we withdraw our hands from a gom jabber," replied Asuka in a hushed whisper. "Shinji, it's about time you got here. Where's your squad held up at?"

"We're in the caves to the northeast of your position. It should be less then two klicks away from your position."

"Got it. Stay in your position idiot…" Asuka gave a little pause. "Please?"

"Yes ma'am. Ikari out." Asuka gave a quick jab with her hand to her Fremen. Swiftly and silently, they crept out of sight of the city. But Asuka turned back for a moment to glance at the city; the others stopped to retrieve her, but she motioned them to move on. She always enjoyed this time of night looking at the city. Like clockwork, lengthy banners came down from the three towers, coloring the otherwise drab tower with a vivacious color: a violent red dragon, a vibrant green tree, and a violet book with gold trimmings. The guards always stopped their patrols and bowed to the towers. Every child and adult gave their evening to bask in the glory of these towers. They prayed feverishly towards the towers, chanting hymns, incantations, and songs of a warped, beautiful language. Some wailed in an orgasmic cry, others whispered to the heavens raising their hands in devotion. Out of the corner of her eye, Asuka saw a figure walk out of one of the towers. Curiously, she shouldered her rifle, took out a pair of binoculars and looked up.

The figure was a woman! An actual human female adorned, yet alone standing with Veritas was just so amazing to Asuka. Quivering, she focused her binoculars on the woman to get a better view. Asuka assumed that she was some sort of religious icon or queen, but why a human? The Veritas had been known to slaughter helpless women such as this one, but she stood there, unarmed and unworried. She stood over her subjects with a pristine and a mothering aura that made even her intimidating guards seem friendly. Her hair was long and fine, like cloud wisps on a warm summer day. She wore a simple toga, draped across her shoulders, which contoured to her every curve. The Queen was fairly unadorned, save for a simple tiara and a gold clasp that held her toga on her body. She held her hands over the city, blessing her subjects with her grace. And then she walked back into the tower to the dismay of her subjects.

The whole city fell silent for a god ten minutes, until the Queen appeared once again at the street level, coming to every Veritas being. A chant began when the Queen had passed and grew louder with every person she had touched. Asuka watched with decreased enthusiasm and finally put her binoculars back in their carrying case.

"Idiots," she muttered.

Shinji and the two squads had already set up a small base camp in a cave complex, tucked away in the mountains, safe from any Veritas recon forces. They're mission was to set up a small outpost in the Contested Regions for recon and to be an early warning system for the farming settlements on the Protectorate's Russia's border. Even so, Shinji wondered why they needed all this equipment to be airlifted in from Afghanistan. They had received heavy machine guns, RPG's, and much more ammo than what was needed for a recon mission. Still, the Lieutenant could not question any orders given to him by the Protectorate; insubordination usually meant death.

Staring into the desert, Shinji was munching on his MRE, but he still had Asuka back in his head. He had always worried about her, sometimes even more than himself. He scanned the desert for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, he knew better than to go looking for her. He did worry about Asuka, but he would just screw things up if he got involved in Asuka's problems. Sighing, he went back to eating his dry steak and powdered grape juice.

"Sir, why are you out here again?" asked a raw sniper recruit hiding in the bushes.

"Keep your attention on your scope corporal. You've got experience; you should know that by now."

"Sorry sir, I was just wondering because of, well, you've been out here since we got back a few hours ago."

"It's none of your concern."

"Oh, okay," the recruit glanced at her watch and got up. "My shift's done, so I'll go get my replacement."

"You do that."

As the recruit left, Shinji scanned the horizon one last time. Again, he was denying that Asuka was lost. Turning back to the cave complex, a voice whispered came out from behind him.

"You really are an idiot sometimes."

Turning around, Shinji's face brightened up to see Asuka standing there. Rifle shouldered, she gave Shinji a quick smile; it was venomous, but had a hint of a good nature. She was shorter than Shinji by a few inches unlike when they were young. Her fiery red hair was cropped short and mostly hidden by a dull colored beanie. In all respects, she was a woman, but still retained some her childish quirks.

"Sorry, but I was trying to look for you."

"You know better than that idiot, I can take care of myself thank-you-very-much." Smiling weakly, Shinji gave a quick laugh. "What's so goddamn funny idiot?"

"You Asuka. You still haven't changed at all since fourteen."

"Well, I only call you an idiot because you are one Shinji." She blew a bubble with her gum and popped it in Shinji's face. Frowning, Shinji scrapped off the bubble gum and didn't notice Asuka jumping on him. "But you're my idiot." She got off him, but grasped Shinji's arms tightly. She pressed her head against his heart and embraced him. "I missed you a lot idiot."

"That's new Asuka, but I thought you had a boyfriend already. That one Emerson guy back in the refugee camp."

"Oh, I left him. Besides, he was seeing some tart behind me back, the bastard. I don't feel bad for him; I mean I didn't love him anyways." Grasping Shinji even tighter, she dug into his back. "I was in love with someone else." They both stared into each other's eyes, as the stars reflected off of each other. Like Romeo and Juliet, they were unafraid of what their love could mean for each other, they just wanted on another. Raising her chin, Asuka brushed her lips against Shinji. Shinji kissed back, if somewhat half-heartedly; Asuka was like a sister to him, this was something he had never thought of. "Why won't you kiss me back?"

"I just did." Shinji was now unsure of himself with Asuka. She was so beautiful in the moonlight and her body was so warm. He took off both off their gloves and just stared into hers. They were so dainty and soft, but they had strength that Shinji lacked. "How will I know you won't leave me, like before?" He remembered that they had a relationship after they were rescued from Tokyo-3, but it was too brief. He was left alone and Asuka went on to other things. It was a sore spot that never healed for him; something Asuka wanted to open again. "Don't you know when to quit? You left me, why should I be with you know?"

"Shinji, I'm really sorry for what I did. I was being an idiot that time; I just felt like you were going to hurt me too. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Asuka, give me a reason. Why should I be with you? And why wait until now to tell me."

"Carpe Diem, Shinji. Carpe Diem. This whole war is going to leave humanity a wreck. It's the way we end, not with a bang, but a whimper."

"Damn you Asuka. I hate you. I love you. I hate you. I love you. Why can't you make up your mind?"

"Why don't you make up yours? Think for yourself instead of having someone else pull the strings or do you need someone to help you?"

"Shut up already. I can't make up my mind because I don't know where you stand."

"Shinji, I love you. Isn't that good enough?" He looked away from her, like a fussy child. "You're scared that I will leave you and you don't want to be hurt again."

"Yes, that's why I don't know if I can love you back."

"God, you're so difficult. What do I have to do to prove myself that I won't backstab you?"

"I don't know. I wish I knew the answer to my own question."

"Then let me help you Shinji. Let me inside your heart and I'll open myself to you. I'm tired of hiding behind walls Shinji! I'm tired of you hiding behind your own wall made from your own pity! I want to be with you, because we're so alike, and yet, we are so different. I just want to be loved. Someone to share the good and the bad with. Someone to hold me tight. Someone who can hold on to me tightly. I want someone to help me. Don't you want that too?"

Shinji didn't answer Asuka. Instead he dropped his handgun to the floor and she propped her rifle against a rock. He cradled her head, running his fingers under her beanie, caressing her face. Nodding, he silently agreed with Asuka.

They just wanted to be loved.

To follow each other to the end.

To be inside one another.

To protect one another.

To know each other better than they knew themselves.

To break down their own walls they hid behind.

They just wanted each other.


End file.
